The Brisbane Broncos are in danger of dropping out of the top eight and missing the finals following an embarrassing 53-6 defeat to Parramatta at Lang Park.
The nine-tries-to-one thrashing was bad enough for the eighth-placed Broncos' for and against, but in a further hammer blow their talismanic halfback Adam Reynolds failed an HIA in his 250th match after leaving the field in the 13th minute.
That dire scenario was compounded by prop Tom Flegler being placed on report for a shoulder charge on Reagan Campbell-Gillard before being taken to hospital with a throat injury.
The Broncos — walloped 60-12 the previous week by the Melbourne Storm — are on 28 competition points with a points difference of -26.
The door is now open for Canberra — in ninth place on 26 points and with a -25 points difference — to move into the top eight with a win over Manly on Saturday.
With only one round remaining in the minor premiership beyond this weekend, the win was enough for the Eels to secure a home semifinal and keep their chances of claiming a top-four spot alive.
The fifth-placed Eels — on 32 points — will now finish sixth at worst.
Eels back rower Shaun Lane was in rampant form and had three try involvements by half-time.
Winger Maika Sivo scored his 12th try in nine matches against Brisbane after Lane unleashed a classy offload to ignite the Eels.
Lane put Sivo away and the Fijian star kicked infield with superb skill for Tom Opacic to make the score 12-0.
Eels half Mitchell Moses ignited one try for Clint Gutherson and started and finished a movement to score himself.
Lane iced the first half with another blockbusting run and offload to hand Gutherson his second try and give the Eels a 31-6 lead at the break.
The Broncos lost Kobe Hetherington to an HIA in the second half and Brenko Lee with a leg injury to compound their woes.
The Eels kicked away with four more tries as Gutherson reigned supreme.
The Broncos have now recorded four losses in their past five matches.
The Eels have regained their mojo with four wins out of their last five and loom as genuine title threats.
AAP/ABC
