They'd be right.

Only fanatical Souths fans and a head-in-the-sand refereeing fraternity would dispute that.

The tries might be more incidents to be added to the video-refereeing controversy but any disinterested watcher wouldn't protest.

Souths more than deserved their 32-20 margin.

With Parramatta, there is simply almost nothing there.

The big performance isn't coming.

It would be a brave punter who would plonk on the Eels to beat the North Queensland Cowboys, let alone NRL leaders the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles this Friday night.

The Souths match confirmed the Parramatta forwards are a season past it.

After almost a season, the best they could do was run one-out at the Souths forwards, with their teammates watching.

There was no structure, not even others running in support of the ball carrier.

In contrast, the Souths had young legs, confident popped passes and supporting runners.

The metres and tries followed.

To be fair to the Eels, expectations of that big performance, particularly from the backs, have been unrealistic.

Missing from the backline that almost helped Parramatta beat the Melbourne Storm last year are halfback Tim Smith, due to personal problems after his subsequent personal problems, and centre Ben Smith, who has been injured for virtually all of this season.

Timana Tahu has gone to rugby union.

Winger Eric Grothe has gone walkabout in mind and enthusiasm.

Centre Krisnan Inu has also missed most of the season and is only now starting to run into form.

Should a miracle happen and Parramatta beats Manly, who are due for a bad one, then all the criticism will pass.

But, should Parramatta lose again, then they will really be up the creek without a paddle and they may as well start planning for next year.