Parramatta cruised to a comfortable 32-10 win over local rivals Canterbury to keep their spot in the top two on the NRL ladder, and look to have avoided a serious injury to Nathan Brown.<\/p>\n
The off-contract forward was running back on cover defence late in the first half, when he fell to the ground with nobody near him – although the initial injury seemed to occur in the previous set during a tackle on Bulldogs forward Ava Seumanufagai.<\/p>\n
However, despite speculation from the broadcast that it could be a severe knee injury, it was later reported by the Eels that it was a hip pointer issue, which could see the 28-year-old return in under a month.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/nrlphysio\/status\/1388416649678581761<\/a><\/p>\n Brown's future has been in limbo since the Parramatta Eels pulled their initial contract offer after the forward refused to accept it before the club's deadline in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Bulldogs also lost Dylan Napa to a shoulder injury mid-game, and he did not return.<\/p>\n On the field, there were no dramas whatsoever for Brad Arthur's men, who led from start to finish. Two quick tries to Clint Gutherson and Maika Sivo in the opening ten minutes set the tone, before the skipper grabbed a second before the break to send them to the sheds with a 16-0 lead, which was never seriously threatened despite the lead being cut to 22-10 at one stage.<\/p>\n The Eels suffered a shock loss to the Dragons in Round Five, but have won their three games since by a combined 87 points.<\/p>\n "After that Dragons game, we were really disappointed with how we went out there and went about it," Gutherson said post-match.<\/p>\n "The way we've responded, in previous years we might dwell on it a bit too long and it might take us a few weeks to get back into it, but just the way we responded down in Canberra and the way we've built off that in the last couple of weeks – that's what I've been most proud of about this team but there's still a long way to go."<\/p>\n The win for the Eels sets up a mouth-watering clash with the Roosters on Friday night.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"