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AAP
Jasper Bruce

Young bags hat-trick as Roosters belt Eels in the wet

Englishman Dom Young enjoyed the wet conditions, scoring three Roosters tries against Parramatta. (Mark Evans/AAP PHOTOS)

The Sydney Roosters are closing in on a top-four finish after Dom Young scored a hat-trick in their 38-14 thrashing of Parramatta.

A storm drenched Allianz Stadium an hour before kick-off and made for greasy conditions throughout Friday night's game.

But the Roosters never appeared to get out of second gear once they overcame a sloppy start, feasting on the Eels' leaky edges during two separate sin-binnings.

The Tricolours are set to finish the weekend third on the NRL ladder with the competition's best points differential.

Pending other results, they could be three points inside the top four at the end of round 24, and face no more top-eight sides across the last three rounds of the regular season.

Connor Watson.
The Roosters' Connor Watson was cleaned up by this tackle in the clash against the Eels. (Mark Evans/AAP PHOTOS)

Robinson was pleased by his side's renewed defensive vigour after giving up 64 points across the two games before the bye.

"I thought for the most part we ran our system really well, executed really well," he said.

But the Roosters' attacking prowess was on full show as well, Young shaking off a hamstring issue to confirm his first hat-trick of an up-and-down opening season in red, white and blue.

"He sort of just got across the line to play and then his first hat-trick for us," said Robinson.

"He had some work to do each time, especially in those conditions, to find the line."

The Eels did themselves few favours and struggled to contain the best attacking side in the NRL, conceding four of their seven tries while reduced to 12 men.

Parramatta first lost Wiremu Greig to the sin bin after the prop's shoulder made contact with Connor Watson's head in the first half and then needed to contend without Brendan Hands following a professional foul just after the break.

"The second one I thought was a bit harsh with (Hands holding) Brandon (Smith) under the posts," said Parramatta interim coach Trent Barrett.

"But when we turned the ball over in the fashion that we turned it over, giving them field position, they're a good side and they made the most of it."

By the time Greig came back on after 25 minutes, Young and Daniel Tupou had crossed on either edge, ballooning the lead to 18 points to give the 16th-placed Eels a mountain to climb.

Watson left the field for a head injury assessment after the shot from Greig and was unable to return so will miss next Sunday's away clash against Gold Coast.

James Tedesco's 60-metre runaway try was a particular highlight once the Eels regained the full complement.

Just after Greig returned, the captain poked between Will Penisini and Sean Russell before selling Clint Gutherson a dummy so convincingly that the Eels fullback slipped over in one of the many pools of water that had formed on the pitch.

"It was probably one of the worst fields I've played on for a while," Gutherson said of the conditions.

Young bagged his third on an overlap as Hands watched from the sidelines before earning an early mark to rest his hamstring in the final 10 minutes.

Eels hooker Joey Lussick darted out of dummy-half to put a little more respectability on the scoreboard in the final minute of the game.

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