Eels stun woeful Raiders

Canberra came crashing back to earth tonight, demolished 38-6 by a depleted Parramatta side in greasy conditions at Parramatta Stadium.

Five tries in a 20 minute burst after halftime took the Eels' 12-0 advantage at the break out to a crushing 38-0 by the 61st minute as the Raiders' four-day turnaround after Monday's caning of Newcastle bit hard.

Doubles to second-rower Nathan Hindmarsh and centre Ben Smith and tries to Jarryd Hayne, Josh Cordoba and Mark Riddell saw the Eels put together their best performance so far in 2007, despite going into the match without injured big names Timana Tahu (arm), Brett Finch (ribs) and Nathan Cayless (hamstring).

Fullback Luke Burt, who had not missed a goal this season coming into the game after working with boot whisperer Daryl Halligan, managed five from seven.

The Raiders scored a consolation try to hooker Lincoln Withers in the 65th minute, converted by halfback Michael Dobson.

It was a night when the Parramatta forwards scooted around like backs and the little men played like heavyweights.

The Eels opened their account with an extraordinary 70-metre individual try from chunky Test forward Nathan Hindmarsh in the 12th minute.

After the Raiders had camped in the Parramatta half early while the Eels ran into the steady rain, Hindmarsh chose his moment perfectly. Spying a hole in the centre of the ruck, he jinked, put the foot down in his best impersonation of a runaway cement truck and rattled nearly 70m to dive over under the posts.

After Smith had latched on to a Tim Smith kick six minutes before the end of a scrappy first half, the centre grabbed his second, also from a kick, in the 44th minute, on the spot again when Raiders winger Adrian Purtell failed with his attempt at an Aussie Rules mark.

Hindmarsh's try-scoring feast continued four minutes later when he capitalised on a Tim Smith grubber and slapped a hand on the loose ball.

Five minutes later, the smallest man on the park, PJ Marsh, pulled off the biggest hit of the match on one of the biggest men on the field, 109kg Raiders prop Scott Logan.

The moment produced some sadly lacking fire from the Raiders in the form of some push and shove, but it was Parramatta who continued the momentum, Hayne, Riddell and Cordoba crossing within the next eight minutes.

The Raiders' handling was appalling throughout as their completion rate plummeted to below 50 per cent.

The Eels, who wore replica jerseys from 1947 to celebrate 60 years in the big league, handed impressive debuts to 20-year-olds Blake Green and Krisnan Inu.