Parramatta's season from hell has been compounded by a foot injury to Junior Paulo as interim coach Trent Barrett turned the heat on his players for being the architects of their own downfall.
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The Eels slumped to the bottom of the NRL ladder with a 32-16 loss to South Sydney at a rain-soaked CommBank Stadium on Thursday.
The defeat - the club's fourth in a row - came after a week in which it emerged that star halfback Mitchell Moses had unloaded on his teammates and the club hierarchy in a post-match tirade after the previous week's loss to Newcastle.
The Eels have just one win to their name since axing Brad Arthur, with the club's next permanent head coach still yet to be determined.
Dean Young, Jason Ryles and Josh Hannay are the final three contenders for the role and while Barrett has made a pitch for the gig, his 1-5 record since stepping in as caretaker is unlikely to strengthen his case.
For the meantime, Barrett will be forced to soldier on until the end of the season but it is doubtful if Paulo will be there to power the Eels up the middle.
The Samoan international limped off midway through the first half and left CommBank Stadium in a protective boot.
"It doesn't look great, he (Paulo) will get scans tomorrow," Barrett said on Thursday.
"We're not too sure (what he's done) but it's not great."
The prop's injury adds fresh angst for the Eels, who saw Moses get himself sinbinned late in the game for a professional foul.
Moses' frustration was obvious given how Parramatta got themselves in all the right positions to win the game.
Camped on Souths' line for much of the first half, the Eels clawed back to within a converted try before allowing the Rabbitohs to cross just before the halftime siren.
"There's nine seconds to go and you can't do that, we need to be more desperate there," Barrett said.
"At 26-16 at the end it's respectable and you let in another ordinary try and it blows out to 30 and you think, 'they've been walloped again'.
"It's not the case but we've got to get that out of our game.
"We were too sideways (with the ball)... you won't score pretty tries in the wet.
"The tries that you're going to score off a kick or a drop or by playing through teams, they're still worth four points, they don't have to be beautiful and we were probably guilty of that."
Australian Associated Press
