Workaholic Parramatta backrower Nathan Hindmarsh admitted he was scared senseless at the thought of the Eels missing out on the NRL finals, a prospect that became all too possible with their 14-6 loss to St George Illawarra at WIN Stadium.

Entering the contest eyeing a top four berth, the Eels now have just as much chance of securing a home final as they do of missing the top eight altogether, a scenario which seemed unthinkable a few weeks ago.

Victory over Brisbane on Sunday will secure them a finals appearance and a top four finish if the New Zealand Warriors and the Bulldogs both lose their last round matches.

But a loss to the Broncos and wins for South Sydney and the Wests Tigers could catapult the Eels out of September action, the Tigers also needing to overhaul a 64-point points differential to overtake Parra.

"We've been sitting up at three or four the majority of the season and the last couple of games we could see ourselves fall out of the eight," Hindmarsh said.

"It's a bit scary when you put all the hard work into the season and maintain a good spot in the top four and all of a sudden you've let it slip and your season could be over next week.

"(But) we can't bother worrying about anyone else who wins loses, we've just got to make sure we come up with the goods next Sunday."

The Eels failed to deliver anything like the goods in one of their most inept displays of the season.

While defence held firm, Parramatta looked disjointed in attack with halves Tim Smith and Brett Finch looking like they were playing their first match together rather than their 21st.

Parramatta had plenty of ball early and wasted it with poor handling, the Dragons making them pay with a pair of tries in the space of three minutes.

The first came via Rangi Chase, but it was all Mark Gasnier, who flourished with the extra room and diminished responsibility after he was moved back to centre.

Gasnier lurked infield and found a hole up the middle of the ruck before sending Chase on his way, the home side up 12-0 when Jamie Soward spotted Eric Grothe out of position as he kicked to the touchline for Jason Nightingale to score out wide.

The Eels threatened in the second half with Feleti Mateo going over despite the hint of a double movement, but the Eels couldn't find a way through the Dragons defence again as Soward sealed the result with a 78th minute penalty goal.

The win removed any chance of the Dragons winning their first wooden spoon as a joint venture club, coach Nathan Brown admitting there was a sense of relief at avoiding the honour.

"We didn't want to be the first (St George) Dragons blokes in 69 years, players, coaches, whoever, to get the spoon," Brown said.

"We just wanted to come off so that everyone could look in the mirror and said I gave it everything I had.

"Considering what they had to play for and what we had to play for, they obviously had a lot more to play for as far as semifinals go, for us it was just self pride."

Hindmarsh said he was confident nothing would come of his 38th minute lifting tackle on Ashton Sims, while the news was also more promising on brother Ian after he was taken from the field on a stretcher midway through the first half complaining of pins and needles in his neck.

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