Dyldam Parramatta Eels Head Coach Brad Arthur says he’s happy with the effort his side put in, to earn their 36-16 win over the New Zealand Warriors in Round 1.
Hat-tricks to Vai Toutai and Semi Radradra saw an exciting display in attack, but Arthur was most impressed with the team’s defence.
“We had a period in the first half we defended five sets and then ran down the field and scored some points,” he said.
“So defensively we were strong, but there are still a couple things we can still improve on - like that last ten minutes we put the cue in the rack and need to be a bit more ruthless there.”
Arthur says while the wingers’ triple try-scoring efforts are fantastic, it’s the effort made on the inside to get it to the wings in the first place.
“You’ve got to get the timing right and earn the right to get the ball to the wing, and I think our forwards really paved the day there, and the wingers’ job is to score tries and finish off,” he said.
“I didn’t have any expectation on their performance, I wanted to make sure they had a real desire and a want and to find a way to do things - it’s not always going to be pretty, and it was just about finding a way to get the two points, and we managed to do that.”
The win caps an impressive weekend for the Blue and Gold, with all five grades from Harold Matthews Cup through to NRL notching up wins.
“I think it’s the first time in four or five years that all five grades have actually won, but we’ve got a long way to go. Next week against the Roosters is going to be tough,” Arthur said.
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