Eels 30 Raiders 12

TONY WILLIAMS turned up to his first day of training with the Parramatta first grade squad without his boots or his gear.

But the giant winger, dubbed "T-Rex", made a better impression on his teammates in his NRL debut against Canberra last night.

Called in to replace the error-prone winger Eric Grothe, Williams provided the grunt while fellow Tongan Feleti Mateo added the finesse as the Eels got their season back on track against an overmatched Raiders outfit.

Mateo provided the deft touches, setting up three tries to keep them within reach of the top eight. Where Mateo was all guile, Williams was brute force.

The 113 kilogram teenager terrorised the Raiders' left-hand defence in a memorable debut. His performance is likely to consign former international Grothe to a Jim Beam hit-out for Wentworthville against the Vulcans next weekend.

Although he is just 19 and had yet to play a first-grade game, Manly threw the cheque book at Williams to lure him to the northern beaches in 2009. The stocks of their $150,000 investment rose even higher last night, particularly when he went on a Jonah Lomu-esque burst which left four defenders in his wake.

In all he made 176 metres in his debut gallop. Apparently, he can kick goals as well.

The visitors started strongly courtesy of a David Milne try in the 14th minute. The Raiders winger shrugged off feeble attempted tackles in a 15 metre stampede to the line. Todd Carney converted to open up a 6-0 lead.

The advantage was short-lived, with the Eels hitting back just three minutes later through Joel Reddy. The lanky winger was the man on the spot when centre partner Taulima Tautai batted back a Brett Finch bomb.

The Raiders had played mistake-free football for much of the first half, not making one handling error in the opening 20 minutes.

But as soon as they made their first mistake - a Nigel Plum knock on - the Eels capitalised.

Mateo set up the Eels' second. The livewire five-eighth looked set to score himself when he stepped past some flimsy defence from close range, only to fall with the line beckoning.

The Green Machine tried hard but there were few nervous moments for the crowd of 10,195.

Raiders, prop Scott Logan was reported for a lifting tackle on Burt.

PARRAMATTA 30 (L Burt 2 B Finch 2 J Reddy tries L Burt 5 goals) bt CANBERRA 12 (B Goodwin D Milne tries J Carney 2 goals) at Parramatta Stadium. Referee: A Shortall. Crowd: 10,195.