Parramatta Eels pay heavy price over 'brainless' Reagan Campbell-Gillard act

The Parramatta Eels' run to the finals is likely to become significantly more difficult, with Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Maika Sivo staring down significant bans from the NRL judiciary. Both were sent off during the Eels' 25-24 comeback win over the Gold Coast Titans, leaving the visitors down to 11 men on the field at one point.

Fans were disappointed by the lack of discipline from the 2022 grand finalists, which left them having to do things the hard way against a Titans outfit still reeling from the sacking of coach Justin Holbrook. The news didn't get any better on Monday, when the full extent of Sivo and Campbell-Gillard's indiscretions was revealed.

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Campbell-Gillard came under immediate scrutiny after leading with his knees into an already grounded Chris Randall just minutes after Sivo was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Jojo Fifita. Fox Sports commentator Andrew Voss immediately suggested there was no defending the action, with the NRL judiciary in agreement when charges from Sunday's matches were released on Monday.

Many considered Campbell-Gillard fortunate not to have been sent off on the spot for the offence, with the 29-year-old handed a four game ban, which risks going up to five should the Eels opt to challenge it. Previous charges counted against him badly, with the latest his third such indiscretion.

Many were surprised at the action from Campbell-Gillard who, despite having faced several dangerous contact charges in the past, doesn't have a reputation for going too far. Laurie Daley was one such NRL great to express his shock at the act.

"It didn't look good, it was ugly," Daley told Big Sports Breakfast on Monday morning.

"He's not a dirty player, that's totally against what he would normally do. It's like he was coming in and thought I'm going to continue here with my knees."

Parramatta complete comeback after multiple sin-bins

From 12-4 down, the Titans cashed in to hit the lead through two electrifying tries to wingers Phillip Sami, the 50th of his career, and Alofiana Khan-Pereira, his 17th of a breakout rookie season. A Mitchell Moses penalty goal locked the scores back up again before Boyd replied to give the Titans an unlikely 16-14 halftime lead.

Bryce Cartwright briefly put Parramatta back in front when he scrambled over early in the second half, only for Tanah Boyd to stroll through under the posts to regain the lead for Gold Coast. Back from his heroics for the Blues last Wednesday night, Campbell-Gillard had crashed over for the first try of the game before Will Penisini crossed to earn the Eels a 12-0 lead after as many minutes.

But Khan-Pereira's first try of a double revived Gold Coast's hopes before the game took its wild late twist. "It's hard to win an NRL game and we did it with 11 players," Arthur said.

"It's hard. Every now and then you practice a bit of 12-men stuff, but not 11. So I'm extremely proud of them.

"There were plenty of things I could be critical of but I just want to focus on how we won a tight game and it's going to be crucial come the back end of the year."

A sixth win from their past seven games left Parramatta in seventh spot at the conclusion of round 20. The Titans remain 12th but have fallen four points behind eighth-placed South Sydney following a third defeat by four points or less in as many weeks.

"If we didn't have bad luck at the moment, we'd have no luck at all," rued caretaker coach Jim Lenihan, who conceded the Titans probably need to win seven of their last eight games to make the finals.

With AAP

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