Michael Jennings claimed a double as Parramatta Eels ended their long wait for an away win with a 20-12 success over Penrith Panthers as Canberra Raiders started the new NRL season with a 21-0 victory over Gold Coast Titans.

The Eels had not triumphed on the road since round 25 in 2017, but they spoiled Ivan Cleary's first game of his second spell in charge of Penrith.

Cleary was without the services of Tyrone May, who was stood down by the NRL after he was charged with allegedly filming and disseminating sexual acts with two women without their knowledge and consent.

Jennings made it another difficult day for his former club Penrith, who lost Hame Sele to a suspected broken arm in a contest which also saw Eels lock Nathan Brown suffer a pectoral injury which could rule him out for three months.

The lively Jennings showed great hands to score Parramatta's second try after Marata Niukore went over to open the scoring on Sunday, while Reed Mahoney added another after the break.

Jennings was shown a yellow card after hitting Isaah Yeo with a swinging arm to end the captain's participation and while tries from Wayde Egan and James Tamou gave the Panthers some hope, they came up short. 

As for the Raiders, they eased to victory over the Titans in the pouring rain at Cbus Super Stadium.

Gold Coast lost Ash Taylor to a quad injury before kick-off while team-mate Tyrone Roberts hurt his Achilles, the Raiders taking advantage with tries from Iosia Soliola, Joseph Leilua and Bailey Simonsson.