Parramatta may have the spectre of starting the competition on minus four points hanging over them, but the Eels could not have started their 2016 campaign any better after beating the New Zealand Warriors 22-4 in the final of the Auckland Nines.
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The Warriors were diabolical as they again struggled to deal with the expectation of a hopeful home crowd. More than 70,000 people across two days at Eden Park saw the Eels record their first Auckland Nines win and their first major trophy since winning the World Sevens in 2003. The Eels unearthed speedster Bevan French, who finished the tournament as the leading try-scorer with eight tries, while Semi Radradra scored six. The Eels finished top of their pool and progressed to the final with wins against Newcastle and Melbourne.
It was a much needed boost to a Parramatta side which could start the season in negative points as it remains at loggerheads with the NRL over a governance review.
With star recruits Michael Jennings, Kieran Foran, Beau Scott and Michael Gordon rested, Corey Norman captained his side to a four-tries-to-one win and was named player of the tournament. Parramatta raced to an 11-4 half-time lead after Warriors recruit Roger Tuivasa-Sheck found some rare space to race 45 metres to score his side's only try.
"Hopefully this gives everyone a bit of a lift," Eels coach Brad Arthur said. "We got through to the grand final being one of the better defending teams. We won the game on the back of our defence."
Despite a breakthrough tournament Arthur said French, who was named in the team of the tournament, was a long way away from first grade.
"We have some boys that have been training in the backline for round one and Bevan is not part of that," Arthur said. "He is only young but has a lot to learn. He was fortunate he was on the end of slick passing."
Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson sent a scare through his side when he looked to have re-injured his ankle in the first play of the second half but said it was a cork.
"It's disappointing," Johnson said. "We put ourselves in position but we just didn't have it."
Meanwhile, the winless Dragons failed to make the finals of the tournament for the third time, while Brisbane also failed to register a victory. Defending Nines premiers South Sydney did not progress past the pool stage after winning one game and NRL champions North Queensland were shock losers in the quarter-final to the Storm despite fielding a star-studded team.
Newcastle's Jaelen Feeney was lucky to escape a charge after lobbing a football at a referee. The NRL's match review committee deemed the subsequent sin-binning a sufficient penalty.
The Australian Jillaroos lost to New Zealand 2-1 in their best-of-three series.
