WESTERN Suburbs legend Tommy Raudonikis rates the Parramatta side that plays the Tigers this Friday night as one of the worst sides of the modern era.
Raudonikis likens Ricky Stuart's Parramatta as a "rabble", an absolute "shambles" -- far worse than the Magpies side he coached to consecutive wooden spoons in 1998-99.
The Eels go into the game against Wests Tigers after a 40-6 drubbing at the hands of Manly.
The Tigers fared little better, coming away from the Gold Coast on the end of a 30-point hammering at the hands of the Titans.
"My old mob looked bad at the weekend, but fair dinkum this Parramatta mob are an absolute shambles and play without any ticker," Raudonikis said. "I reckon I'd beat them with just three players I had in my side when we finished last twice.
"Without a word of a lie I could beat this lot with just Andrew Leeds, 'Cherry' Mescia and Steve Georgallis. That's how dreadful Parramatta are playing," he said. "I've watched a lot of the Eels on the box, but even when we were on the end of some big floggings and lost 12 on the trot, the crowd never booed me like they do Ricky Stuart.
"I'm the first to put my hand up and say I made mistakes as a coach, mostly because I listened to the wrong people. I really do feel for Stuart. He's got to be hurting."
The last-placed Parramatta is at home against the Tigers, six points adrift of its opposition and with the worst for-and-against record in the premiership.
In-fighting at the club has seen the highly respected Ken Edwards depart as chief of executive of the football club, while Bob Bentley was sacked as chief executive of the thriving leagues club.
The lack of results on the field continues to spill over into the boardroom where Steve Sharp is in charge of a divided board.
The Eels last featured in a grand final in 2009 when beaten by Melbourne, only to see the Storm have the premiership stripped from it when the club was found to have rorted the salary cap. Since then, Parramatta has finished 12th, 14th and 16th and last in 2012.
On the field, Chris Sandow, just one of the Eels' big-money signings, is toiling in the third-tier NSW Cup competition.
"I like Ricky Stuart a lot as a bloke, admired him as a player, as well as doing a good job coaching NSW in Origin, but even he must be wondering what he's got to do to turn his mob around," Raudonikis said. "If I was in Ricky's shoes, I'd just forget about what's left of this season, cop the results on the chin and start looking towards next year."
