Jock Madden’s penalty goal has sealed Wests Tigers’ 22-20 golden-point defeat of Parramatta in an early contender for the NRL’s game of the season.
In just his second NRL game since July 2024, the journeyman five-eighth stepped up to the tee and iced the game from 15 metres out in the fifth minute of extra time on Easter Monday.
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The Round 5 win sends the Tigers into the top two to finish the weekend for just the second time in the past 12 seasons, the other time coming after a round-one success in 2017.
Madden would have thought he’d blown the Tigers’ best chance at victory when his field goal was waved wide from point-blank range some three-and-a-half minutes into extra time.
But when Dylan Walker was called offside putting pressure on the kicker, Madden had a second chance to win the game and made no mistake.
The Tigers have now won three of their first four games for the first time since 2018.
Earlier, train-and-trial player Apa Twidle came on for his NRL debut as 18th man and inspired Parramatta back into the contest from 18-10 down.
Twidle had appeared unlikely to take the field on Easter Monday before 29,397 fans – CommBank Stadium’s record crowd.
The 21-year-old was granted an exemption to be included in the game-day team following an Eels injury crisis that deepened when Bailey Simonsson (dislocated ankle), Sean Russell (head knock) and Jonah Pezet (hamstring) went down against the Tigers.
Simonsson left the field in a medicab after landing awkwardly from a mid-air tackle by Luke Laulilii, sin-binned soon after giving the Tigers an 18-10 lead with his second-half aerial try.
Activated as the 18th player, Twidle scored with the first touch of his NRL debut with a stunning put-down on the right edge that was initially ruled a no try.
Twidle’s second was at least slightly simpler than his first, running onto a Mitch Moses cut-out ball and getting outside Hemasi Makasini to sprint to the line.
His efforts allowed the Eels to draw level at 18-18.
In the final five minutes, Mitch Moses tore down the right side on the fifth tackle and was stopped by Samuela Fainu.
Referee Peter Gough initially ruled the set complete, but when the Eels launched a captain’s challenge, the bunker picked up a high tackle that allowed Moses to kick for a two-point lead.
But the Tigers equalised on the following set when Sam Tuivaiti hit Sione Fainu high, with Madden tying the game at 20 by slotting the first of two important penalty goals.
