Mitchell Moses is quickly endearing himself to Parramatta supporters after booting a golden-point field goal to hold off the fast-finishing Bulldogs on Thursday, sending Canterbury's 2017 season onto life support in the process.
Six games into his mid-season switch from the Tigers, Moses nailed a drop goal from 25m to cap a 13-12 win and help cement the Eels into the top-eight while potentially doing terminal damage to its greatest rival.
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Eels fend off Bulldogs in golden point
A field goal in Golden Point by mid-season recruit Mitchell Moses has delivered the Parramatta Eels a 13-12 victory over rivals the Canterbury Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium in Round 17.
Moses played a crucial role for Parramatta on both sides of the ball in front of 14,061 fans at ANZ Stadium, helping set up a try but more importantly producing his strongest defensive game so far for his new club.
Canterbury, meanwhile, were cruelly denied after producing an inspired second-half fightback to level the scores at 12-all before Moses had the last say.
"It's nice for Mitchy to do that, it's a big moment and he nailed it," Parramatta coach Brad Arthur said.
"He was nice and calm going into golden point, spoke really well to the players. He's had four wins from six games [at Parramatta]. I don't know when was the last time he did that.
"He's had to fit into a new style of football, new defensive systems, how many coaches has he had in the past? He's had to adapt and he's adapted really well.
"He's worked really hard and tonight I thought he really aimed up defensively."
Eels captain Tim Mannah said Moses had quickly endeared himself to his new teammates as well.
"He's fitting into the club really quickly. He's a very likeable guy and the boys get along with him really well," Mannah said.
"It [kicking the field goal] was a bit of a relief for him, he seemed pretty happy after it. Defensively he was really strong today. He's been pretty solid for us since he's been here.
"He's been great for us but it was good to see him have that special moment tonight."
Michael Lichaa gave away the penalty that marched Parramatta upfield during the first period of golden point, adjudged to have stripped the ball from Tepai Moeroa after Canterbury had kicked off - a decision that left Bulldogs coach Des Hasler fuming.
"I thought the penalty in the extra time was a pretty tough call to be honest, I think it was from the pocket referee and I think he got it wrong," Hasler said.
"We probably had opportunities earlier in the game, we made some dumb plays.
"Some parts were really really good, the commitment, the fightback in the second half. There were probably a few areas there that we weren't so good in."
This wasn't a game for the highlights reel, but it was an absorbing contest in the middle of the field where Canterbury more than matched their rivals, but were unable to capitalise on the scoreboard.
Nathan Brown was immense for the Eels while Aiden Tolman played 80 minutes in the absence of James Graham and made a staggering 53 tackles.
Second-half tries to Brett Morris and Matt Frawley hauled Canterbury back into the game, but it wasn't to be for Des Hasler's men who are now six points adrift of the NRL's top eight.
As it has been all year, the Bulldogs' Achilles' heel was an insipid attack, particularly in the first half.
Their only points to the main break came via a Moses Mbye penalty goal - just their 61st and 62nd first-half points of the season.
Only twice did they carve out genuine scoring opportunities against the Eels.
Mbye stepped through early in the game and looked set to score before pushing a pass that found the ground, and ultimately Moses, who gratefully cleaned up to diffuse the danger.
There was another opportunity in the lead up to Parramatta's first try when Mbye found Adam Elliott in a bit of space out wide, but his pass to Josh Morris was unsuccessfully tipped over to brother Brett, finding the touchline instead.
Parramatta looked much more dangerous, and almost scored after less than three minutes when Will Hopoate threw a shocking pass across his own goal line after fielding a well-placed kick but Marcelo Montoya was there to clean up the mess, albeit illegally.
He was adjudged to have shoved Moses out of the way before he grounded the ball in goal, and spent 10 minutes in the bin for his trouble.
The Eels took the penalty goal on offer, but couldn't capitalise against 12 men, eventually taking their chance thanks to a piece of magic from Bevan French.
He skipped around Josh Morris on the right-hand side before chipping it over the top of Brett en route to a superb individual try.
Twelve minutes later the home side was in again when Semi Radradra found himself on the end of a set play out to the left, which went through the hands of Moses, Corey Norman and Clint Gutherson.
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