Mitchell Moses news leaves NRL fans gutted in crushing finals blow for Parramatta

Mitchell Moses will miss the remainder of the NRL regular season in a crushing blow to the Parramatta Eels' faint finals hopes. The halfback suffered a fractured cheekbone that requires surgery in the Eels' 54-10 loss to Brisbane on Friday night, which has left Parramatta's season hanging by a thread.

Moses picked up the injury in an attempted tackle on Herbie Farnworth after an inspirational effort to try and save a runaway try in the first half. He could be seen looking dejected in the dressing rooms at half-time and didn't return for the second half.

'POT-SHOT': Adam Reynolds hits back at comment from Souths coach

'BRAIN DEAD': Manly coach under fire over 'embarrassing' scenes

"We're pretty sure he has a fractured eye socket," Eels coach Brad Arthur said. "It was about the third minute. It was extremely tough of him to play on. He wanted to go back out there in the second half."

As it stands the Eels (10th) are on 26 points, just one point behind the eighth-placed Newcastle Knights and two behind the Cowboys in seventh. They play the Roosters next week and have a bye in Round 27, but might have to upset the first-place Panthers in Round 26 to have any hope of making the finals. According to our predictions they will finish 10th - two points outside the eight.

But despite the crushing loss to Brisbane and Moses' injury, Arthur said his side isn't out of the premiership race. "It makes it tough but we are not giving up," Arthur said.

"We are going to keep fighting until it is over. We have got two games and a bye. We will just worry about next week. There was a bit of carnage there with injuries but we get (prop) Reagan (Campbell-Gillard) and (winger) Maika (Sivo) back next week.

"We will just fight on. This team has been fighting all year and we will continue to fight. It is not like we didn't come here to try. Our attitude was on. You could see that in the first 20 minutes. We were just beaten by a team that was too good for us. It's as simple as that."

Parramatta fans left heartbroken for Mitchell Moses

Captain Clint Gutherson shares Arthur's belief, saying: "We have a tight knit group here and we are not going to go into the next two games just playing them. We are going out to win. Tonight it didn't go our way. We lost Mitch and it looks like AD (Andrew Davey) as well but whoever steps in will do the job."

Arthur said five-eighth Dylan Brown would likely move to halfback to cover Moses, while Daejarn Asi will play No.6. Asi played centre against the Broncos on Friday night but filled in admirably for Brown at five-eighth when he was suspended.

Parramatta fans were left shattered for Moses, with many coming to the realisation that their season is all-but over.

with AAP

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.