Before Friday night, the question was whether Jarryd Hayne could match his feats of 2009.

Now the question has become - Can he better them?

Hayne's brilliance reached a breathtaking new level in an opening 30 minutes during which the Parramatta superstar blew Canterbury off the park at ANZ Stadium.

In one of the most gobsmacking openings to an NRL match in memory, Hayne absolutely dominated to stun the crowd of 34,662 as the Eels notched a 32-16 win.

He scored two tries in the first six minutes, one in the first set of the match, and had a hand in two more as the Eels raced out to a 28-4 halftime lead.

To top it off, he produced one of the try saves of the season to snuff out a Canterbury revival with a desperate tackle on David Stagg in the 67th minute.

Few believed Hayne could match his amazing feats of 2009, when he almost single-handedly led Parramatta to a grand final, but he appears ready to top them.

His first try came when he bounced off one defender before swerving past another three to complete a typically classy 25m individual effort.

His second was even better, creating the movement 70m out with a beautiful cut-out ball to Timana Tahu and then backing up to finish it.

The NSW fullback celebrated both with what is becoming his "Hayne Plane" trademark - arms outstretched - with the "Hayne Train" metaphor no longer seeming enough for an emerging great.

Fans and commentators alike were already incredulous, aware they were watching one of the great performances in an NRL match, but Hayne wasn't done yet.

In the 11th minute he threw a superb cut-out ball for Krisnan Inu's try and a 16-0 lead after 11 minutes.

A Brett Kimmorley try in the 17th minute gave the shellshocked Bulldogs some hope but they were left shaking their heads again when Hayne was involved in Inu's second in the 25th minute for 22-4 before Ben Smith crossed in the 30th.

The Dogs showed some fight after the break to make it 28-16 with tries to Ben Barba and Andrew Ryan, but a controversial stripping penalty 20m out from the Bulldogs' line halted the home side's momentum as the Eels grabbed a 14-point buffer through Luke Burt.

The Bulldogs' finals chances are now in the mathematical category, while a third straight victory for the Parramatta juggernaut could have the Eels in the eight at the end of the weekend.

Hayne's performance came on the back of two straight man of the match awards in Parramatta's wins over North Queensland and Penrith.

"He was as good in the defensive part of the game as he was in the offensive," Eels coach Daniel Anderson said.

"I think Jarryd is definitely a catalyst for us as a team. If he smells confidence and exudes an aura of confidence then I think everyone gets a couple of inches taller."

But the whirlwind start still caught Anderson by surprise.

"The boys are very talented and they played to what their strengths were and they got a couple of quick play the balls and we got confident and away we went," he said.

"It was a little bit the other way in the second half."

Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore said his side had been "lethargic" in the opening passage.

"When blokes are poking their heads through tackles and getting quick play the ball and the 10 metres is more like 14, the momentum is very hard to stop, particularly blokes of that prowess."

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