PARRAMATTA were absolutely annihilated by Manly on Sunday, so vision of certain Eels players walking around with beaming smiles at full-time has gone down like a lead balloon

But Braith Anasta says Eels players are entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

The gobsmacking reactions of Josh Hoffman and Bevan French in particular were highlighted by NRL 360, with leading News Corp journalist Paul Kent slamming them for their lack of empathy for the fans.

“One of the things that drives fans absolutely nuts is, when teams lose, they walk off and you can’t tell which team’s lost,” Kent told the show.

Round 20

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“Have a look at Parramatta on the weekend ... when you see scenes like that where players are walking off after getting flogged 54-0 and you can’t tell that they’re in a losing team I think you’re entitled to say ‘where is the effort here’.”

It’s a point-of-view that Anasta completely understands but having been caught in a similar situation, the Bulldogs premiership player told Fox Sports it was important not to draw conclusions from an image.

“Willie Mason and I were at the SFS, we played against the Roosters when I was at the Bulldogs and we got absolutely smashed in the scoreline and we were embarrassed and as disappointed as anyone,” Anasta said.

Whose player's team won the game? Source: FOX SPORTS

“But then someone started yelling out from the crowd something funny, we were embarrassed but we looked at each other for a split second and had a chuckle.

“They caught that on camera and the next day: ‘Mason and Anasta, they don’t care, they don’t give a crap’, which was not true.

“So you don’t know what was happening at that moment when they caught them on camera.

“I’m not going to stick up for them because I hated losing and I’d walk off the field shattered if we lost and these guys should feel the same, and I’m sure they are.”

Anasta said players’ full-time reactions can also be lost in translation because different people react to disappointment and embarrassment in different ways.

“You’re not sure what instance the camera’s caught these guys, were they embarrassed, were they laughing it off, as in ‘can you believe we just got that smashed? How embarrassing is that? I’m disgusted with myself,” Anasta said.

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Cameron Smith and Billy Slater were shattered by the Storm’s loss to the Tigers. Source: Getty Images

“There’s certain ways people show emotions whether it’s playing on the footy field or in everyday life. So let’s not judge too early but I can see both sides.”

On the flip side of Parramatta’s reaction to their thumping was the shattered Melbourne Storm players who failed to lift for Billy Slater in his 300th NRL game against the Wests Tigers.

It was this contrast that laid the foundation for Kent’s argument, with last year’s other grand final side, the Cowboys, equally as upset about their loss to Brisbane.

“You can look at Melbourne who were really upset, you look at the Cowboys who got knocked around in their loss,” he said.

“They actually walked off like the loss actually affected them.

“Look at Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, you can see it.”