Dyldam Parramatta Eels Club Captain Tim Mannah says the Blue and Gold won’t be deterred by a disappointing showing against the Titans as they prepare to face the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on Saturday.
The Wests Tigers will be without hooker Robbie Farah for a second straight week, which may be a bonus for the home side.
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“As the opposition you probably don’t want [Robbie Farah] in the team, but as a fellow player I’ve got a lot of respect for him, a lot of time for him,” Mannah said.
“I think teams are a lot better for having him in there, but that’s not our call. Our concern is our team, our footy, what we can control.”
“[Last week’s loss] was probably more of a disappointing game than we’ve had lately.”
“But we’ve done our video, we’ve moved on, and now we’re preparing for the Tigers. We’ve got a group of boys that are pretty hungry to keep bringing performances that we can be proud of as a group, and hopefully we can make the fans proud as well with the way we play.”
“We’ve got a lot to play for, and every time we put our jersey on we’re excited to represent our team and our club. There's pride on the line every week.”
Clint Gutherson will pull on the number 6 jersey again for the Eels as they take on the Western Sydney rivals in Round 21, and Mannah says regular half Corey Norman is spending his time on the sideline preparing for 2017.
“He’s really learnt some lessons over the last few months,” Mannah said of Norman.
“I think he’s had plenty of time to think about [his actions].”
“He’s just grown as a player; he’s turning into a leader on the field that we all know he can be. Now it’s a matter of doing his time and preparing for next season.”
“The rest of us have got to make sure we keep turning up. We’ve got a really good group of people, from our staff through to our playing squad, and the less we look back, the better.”
