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Furious Eels skipper blows up deluxe at teammate for escort penalty

Clint Gutherson was picked up by the microphones with a handful of expletives in last night’s clash.

Published by
Scott Pryde

It might be the moment of frustration which sums up the Eels' performance on Thursday evening.

In what was an eventual 28-0 loss to the Sydney Roosters, Tom Opacic was penalised for an escort penalty during the second half.

It was a blatant escort from Opacic in the final 20 minutes, with Opacic making a step to the left in an attempt to stop the chasing Adam Keighran.

Coming off last week's loss against the Raiders, and down 18-0 to an injury-ravaged Roosters, Gutherson couldn't contain himself as referee Grant Atkins blew the penalty.

Gutherson's reaction?

"F#$k me you dumb c***" he shouted at Opacic, right next to the referee, making it clearly audible through his microphone.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 02: Tom Opacic of the Eels is seen wearing a black arm-band for the death of his brother Jakob, during the round 16 NRL match between the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels at BlueBet Stadium on July 02, 2021, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Fox Sports commentator Warren Smith then was forced to acknowledge the language live on air, attempting to laugh it off for the viewers at home.

"You couldn't miss unfortunately what he was saying there to his teammates."

Fellow commentator and former NRL star Cooper Cronk then replied.

"Vocal is a very nice way of putting it."

The game, moved to BB Print Stadium in Mackay as the NRL hits regional Queensland this weekend as part of the bubble in the state, was won in brutal fashion by the Roosters, despite their injury crisis.

Parramatta, on the other hand, were only missing Mitchell Moses, and made it their second back-to-back loss, their own top-four hopes now dangling by a thread.

Brad Arthur lamented his team's performance post-game, saying they made a lot of dumb errors.

"Disappointing. We played pretty dumb at times, did some silly things on the field," Arthur said.

"I thought the effort was there – I know the scoreline doesn't reflect it but when you put yourself under that much pressure with some dumb things that we did, not playing as a team."

Published by
Scott Pryde