St George Illawarra lucky charm Wendell Sailor scored a hat-trick of tries, as the in-form Dragons virtually extinguished Parramatta's NRL finals hopes with a 40-14 demolition of the Eels at ANZ Stadium.

Starting the penultimate round in ninth spot, two points and as many places below the Dragons, Parramatta showed none of the required urgency in what was effectively an elimination game for the visitors.

The Dragons scored eight tries to three to shore up their finals berth and effectively ended Parramatta's aspirations by halftime, when they led 24-0.

Sailor had scored just one try in five first grade games this season before the match, but retained his record of not having played on a losing team since returning from his two-year ban.

The Dragons were already 18-0 up by the time Sailor notched his first try.

The Eels defence was porous, especially around the rucks where the home team frequently made easy metres.

Forwards Dan Hunt and Ben Creagh crossed from close range early on before Sailor and his backline colleagues joined the try glut.

Centre and captain Mark Gasnier scored the third try and Sailor intercepted a pass from youngster Kris Keating shortly before halftime.

The exuberant winger crossed again soon after halftime and powered over the hapless Keating to complete his hat-trick.

Centre Matt Cooper and winger Josh Morris also crossed as the Dragons posted their highest score of the season and cantered to their third straight win.

Parramatta, who had won their three previous games, showed more fight and attacking spark in the second half, scoring three tries - two to winger Luke Burt and one to Feleti Mateo.

Sailor thought it was eight years since he had last scored three or more tries in a senior game, as he recalled running in four for Brisbane against the Dragons in a finals game.

"I'm just getting fitter, playing the end of that backline makes it a bit easier, I didn't have to do a great deal for those tries," Sailor said.

"Just a couple of opportunist tries. When you play outside Matt Cooper and guys like Mark Gasnier, it makes it easier. Everyone is rolling along."

Dragons coach Nathan Brown acknowledged Sailor's contribution, whilst recognising the veteran winger wasn't quite the same force as he once was.

"He's definitely not the Dell of six years ago, but he's contributing really well, he's getting fitter and his positional play is very good," Brown said.

The Dragons coach felt his team's attack was better than it had been for a couple of years.

"The second half against Brisbane and the last two weeks, our attack has been the best it's been, probably since Matty Head, Trent Barrett and Luke Bailey and all those blokes, it's definitely been our best since 2006."

Dragons prop Jason Ryles wasn't surprised by the ease with which his side won.

"We knew if we stuck with them they wouldn't be able to stick with us, we're just happy with the way we started and a few of them threw in the towel," Ryles said.

Parramatta coach Michael Hagan was almost understated in his response to his team's performance.

"It wasn't all that flash," Hagan said.

Star forward Nathan Hindmarsh was more expansive and critical.

"Defensively we were poor all across the side. Usually we get three or four in tackles, tonight we were ones and twos," Hindmarsh said.

"We're a much better side than what we showed tonight and we probably played one of our worst games in a few weeks at the wrong time.

"It was a very important game for us and we blew it."

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