Eels thump Broncos as NRL bargain buy Bryce Cartwright stars

Parramatta bargain-buy Bryce Cartwright had one of his best NRL games in recent years as the Eels thumped error-riddled Brisbane 46-6 in stifling Darwin heat on Friday night.

Maika Sivo celebrates a try for the Eels. Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

In his third game for the Eels, the 26-year-old tipped the ball on for hat-trick hero Maika Sivo to score in the first half, then scored his first try since round five last year.

After a horror few years with the Gold Coast, Cartwright has warmed into his form for the Eels and again showed signs he’s shaking off the dark days at TIO Stadium.

The Eels ran riot in the eight-try rout in front of a sell-out Darwin crowd as the Broncos slumped to their fourth straight loss with 51 missed tackles.

Prop Payne Haas was again their best player on the field which was remarkable considering he’s observing Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.

The hulking prop does not eat or drink during daylight hours.

The feat is made even more difficult in the sweltering Darwin heat.

Captain’s run on Thursday was in 35 degree weather and 70 per cent humidity and Haas couldn’t rehydrate until the sun went down, while the mercury was still hovering at 30 degrees at kick off.

Still, the NSW Origin prop churned through 171 metres, and eight tackle-breaks in a mammoth 60-minute performance in the loss.

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But that’s where the good news ended for the Broncos.

After signing an NRL deal with the Broncos earlier in the week, ex-Newcastle and Manly hooker Danny Levi made a meal of his first touch.

Fresh onto the field in the 27th minute, Levi scooped up the ball from dummy half on the second tackle and darted 20 metres through lax defence.

But with the tryline in front of him he offloaded, headbutted the ball into the awaiting clutches of Parramatta who went the length of the field to score in the next set.

The moment summed up the night for the Broncos who started on the worst possible note when skipper Alex Glenn went down in the warm-up with a calf injury.

Fullback Xavier Coates knocked on the ball from the kick off and Sivo scored his first of three for the night in the next set.

Tom Opacic, Oregon Kaufusi, Isaiah Papali’i and Clint Gutherson also got across the line in the eight-try thrashing while the Broncos could muster just one.

The Broncos had hoped to back up their best performance of the season against Penrith last week but instead they fizzled to their sixth loss of the year.