Canberra have slumped to a 38-6 defeat to the Eels in greasy conditions at Parramatta Stadium to look every part the NRL's wooden spoon favourites again.

Five tries in a 20-minute burst after half-time extended the Eels' 12-0 advantage to a crushing 38-0, demoralising the Raiders who had been flying high on the back of Monday night's surprise caning of the Newcastle Knights.

Doubles to second-rower Nathan Hindmarsh and centre Ben Smith, as well as tries to Jarryd Hayne, Josh Cordoba and Mark Riddell saw the Eels put together their best performance so far in 2007, despite going into the match without injured big names Timana Tahu (arm), Brett Finch (ribs) and Nathan Cayless (hamstring).

The positives for the Eels included the impressive unleashing of 20-year-old debutants Krisnan Inu, in place of Tahu, and Blake Green in Finch's five-eighth spot.

"I think they handled the occasion pretty well," Parramatta coach Michael Hagan said.

"I just think it's a good situation that we're in at the moment where we can bring some talented players into the team and we're going to need those blokes for 24, 26 rounds."

Fullback Luke Burt, who had not missed a goal this season coming into the game after working with boot whisperer Daryl Halligan, managed five goals from seven attempts.

The Raiders scored a consolation try to hooker Lincoln Withers in the 65th minute, converted by halfback Michael Dobson.

It was a night when the Parramatta forwards scooted around like backs and the little men played like heavyweights.

The Eels opened their account with an extraordinary 70-metre individual try from chunky Test forward Nathan Hindmarsh in the 12th minute.

Spying a hole in the centre of the ruck, he jinked, put the foot down in his best impersonation of a runaway cement truck and rattled nearly 70m to dive over under the posts.

"I think it's the first ball I've hit at pace this year and then I looked up and there was no fullback there so then I thought I'd just keep going," stand-in skipper Hindmarsh explained.

And he warned there may be more to come.

"We're trying to get a bit more quality out of me this year ... being a bit more fresh in attack, carrying the ball a lot stronger."

Meanwhile, probably the smallest man on the park, Eels hooker PJ Marsh, put a massive 53rd minute hit on 109kg Raiders prop Scott Logan, who retaliated and gave away a penalty.

"It was another time we had possession and we get some field position and we turned it over, Parramatta go up the other end of the field so it's not the wisest choice," Raiders coach Neil Henry said of the incident, which came before an eight-minute burst of three Eels tries.

The Raiders' handling was appalling throughout as their completion rate plummeted to 48 per cent for the match.

"When you turn over that much ball it seems like a snowball effect," captain Alan Tongue said.

Henry agreed as he struggled to explain how the side had reached these depths days after accounting for Newcastle 48-18.

"One week's a long time with footy I suppose so we go from a good effort last week to a very poor effort tonight but you get that with some young players," he said.

"We certainly gifted Parramatta some possession on their own line and you can't do that."

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