Parramatta will be forced to swim against the tide of history unless they can open their account against the equally desperate Cronulla this weekend.
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Both sides go into Saturday's crunch NRL clash at ANZ Stadium winless and the loser will slump to 0-3 and find themselves in a massive hole.
According to Fox Sports Stats, over the last 20 years just nine sides have been in such a position and gone on to make the finals.
And only one of those sides - North Queensland in 2015 - recovered to win the premiership.
Skipper Tim Mannah said his side had to atone for last weekend's 54-0 thrashing at the hands of Manly.
"Regardless of who we're playing and how many we've won and lost, we just want to win," Mannah said.
"And also put in a performance our fans can be proud of. We felt like we let them down on the weekend.
"We were all embarrassed."
With minimal changes to their roster and fullback Clint Gutherson (knee) their only major injury concern, many had Brad Arthur's side circled as finals contenders in 2018.
Centre Michael Jennings said while they had strips torn off them during their video review session, their swagger and drive to make it deep into the finals hadn't been diminished.
"It's two games," Jennings said.
"It does hurt when you lose like that because that's not our standard and that's not the way we wanted to start.
"There's no negatives. We can't put our heads down now, it's too early."
The Eels are set to receive a boost this weekend with Kenny Edwards (ankle) and Beau Scott (illness) set to return and stiffen up their back-row.
Australian Associated Press
