BY STAFF WRITERS

Parramatta legend Peter Sterling believes the struggling Eels should consider dropping representative winger Blake Ferguson as the club desperately tries to find its way out of a form slump ahead of the finals.

Speaking on the Wide World of Sports, Sterling said the Ferguson/Waqa Blake combination wasn’t working and they were found out by premiership-leaders Penrith last week.

“That’s a tough question … the last thing you want to be doing is dropping a State of Origin winger a couple of weeks out from the finals,” he said.

“But he’s on shaky ground. His form hasn’t been good for a while now.

“We’ve made a bit of a joke about him not scoring a try and finally that drought was broken last week (versus New Zealand) but it’s the other areas of the game where he hasn’t been as effective as what we’ve seen in the past and what we expect.

“Looking back at this game, Mitchell Moses gave him a serve because he wasn’t in the right position to chase a kick.

“If you look at the 40/20 kick from Nathan Cleary, the effort to get back wasn’t great.

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“He’s looked suspect under the high ball at times .. he was under one there that I doubt anybody would have caught but still made a pretty poor fist of it the other night.”

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The great Eels halfback also suggested replacing Jai Field with Will Smith to alleviate some kicking pressure on Mitch Moses.

Parramatta, currently 4th, host the Brisbane Broncos on Friday night.