By Jerram Watts
The Parramatta Eels’ fairytale finals dream has become a reality after spoiling the El Masri party, beating the Bulldogs 22-12 in Sydney tonight.
It was a preliminary final of epic proportions, a delicious battle between the Sydney rivals which more than satisfied the appetites of the 74,549 in attendance.
However, the Eels will be sweating on superstar Jarryd Hayne’s availability next weekend after the fullback was put on report for leading with his knee in an attempt to stop Bryson Goodwin scoring the first try.
Hayne pleaded his innocence to the referee saying, “I tucked my feet back”, but referee Tony Archer's hands were tied, putting Hayne on report.
It was also a heartbreaking end to a career nothing short of phenomenal for Hazem El Masri, hoping to close the book on his career with a premiership victory for the Bulldogs.
From scraping into the top eight after the regular season to downing the top two sides of the competition in finals football, the Parramatta Eels have found irresistible form in the past three months, winning 10 of 11 matches.
There was no denying the Hayne Train, however, the Parramatta men coming up trumps in a match that saw both sides go toe-to-toe for 80mins.
It was a bruising match right from the opening set, Eels enforcer FuiFui Moimoi taking a pounding in his first two hit-ups and coming off second-best when colliding with Bulldog’s prop Ben Hannant.
Bulldog’s fullback Luke Patten was the first casualty of the evening, groggily leaving the field after being knocked out by Nathan Cayless whose knee connected with Patten’s head in the tackle.
Cayless left the field himself not too long after with an injury to his hamstring.
It was the Bulldogs who opening the scoring in the 4th minute when El Masri grubbered a kick through to the left-hand corner for Bryson Goodwin to dot down for his 20th try of the season.
A possible eight-point try was awarded for Hayne's infringement, but it only amounted in six points as El Masri missed the conversion but made no mistake with the penalty out in front..
The Eels responded in the 25th minute after piling on the pressure with a 40/20 from Hayne and a penalty.
Hayne took the ball to the line and made a half-break to offload to Joe Galuvao who scampered the remaining 5m to score under the posts. Burt converted to level the score at 6-6.
Just when it looked like the sides would be even heading into the break, Josh Morris put the Bulldogs back in front with his 22nd try of 2009.
Ben Roberts stabbed a kick in behind the Eels’ defence from the 10m line, Jarryd Hayne let the ball run and Morris ran in behind him to force the ball just before the dead ball line.
Eels' hooker Matthew Keating joined Hayne on the report sheet just before the break after what could be deemed a chicken-wing tackle on Ben Hannant who writhed in agony on the ground after.
The second half was just as brutal with both sides trading sets and big collisions to boot.
It was Parramatta that drew first blood in the second half, however, Inu setting Luke Burt up on the wing for his 100th try for Eels, only the second player in history to do so.
Parramatta got their third soon after when halfback Jeff Robson made a half break 15m out from the line, offloading to Hayne who found Mannah who only had eyes for the chalk and crossed to put the Eels in front in the 56th minute.
Youngster Daniel Mortimer put the icing on the cake for Parramatta, scoring inside the final ten minutes after a rampaging Moimoi made huge inroads up the middle of the field.
Quick offloads saw Burt keep the defence guessing and found Mortimer running a great line who carved through the line to seal the victory.
The end of the season for the heartbroken Bulldogs, the end of a dazzling career for Hazem El Masri, but the continuance of the seemingly unstoppable Eels outfit who have now beaten the first and second place finishers of the 2009 regular season.
The Eels will face the victors of tomorrow night’s titanic arm-wrestle between the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm.