The Parramatta Eels are preparing to take on the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in Round 17 of the NRL Telstra Premiership on Thursday 29 June, and speaking ahead of the clash, Blue & Gold forward Nathan Brown says the side side has not got caught up in their position on the table.
After a bye last week, seeing the Eels move into the Top Eight, Brown says the Blue and Gold are purely focused on their opposition this week.
“We are concentrating now on the Bulldogs, getting the next two wins and then another bye under our belt so the next two wins are really important for us,” Brown said.
“We are not really looking at the table, especially at this point of the season. We are concentrating on week by week and getting the two points.”
“Towards the back end of the season is when we start looking at the table.”
“The Bulldogs have some big boys up front, and a couple of class players in the backs so we definitely will have to stop their forwards and the go forward.” He added.
“We haven’t been consistent this year, the bye has freshened us up and now we have to get some consistency into our game from here onwards.”
Brown has taken that same approach, looking forward rather than at the past, towards his own game in 2017.
Brown is in arguably the best form of his career, and the forward paid credit to Head Coach Brad Arthur.
“Concentrating on playing footy and trying to get the rubbish out of my game,” Brown said when asked of what had changed in his game.
“BA has been really good for me, has helped me out a lot and given me a great opportunity.”
“You just have to do it yourself, concentrate on the whole time you are out there, and not get too far ahead of yourself.” He added.
“You have to play each play, so my big thing is not worrying too much about what has happened in the past but just concentrating on my next job.”
The Eels will be without experienced forward Beau Scott and hooker Kaysa Pritchard, however Brown said he would not be changing his game to fill the shoes of Scott.
“Beau Scott is a massive loss. He is so experienced so whoever comes in, we have some good depth, I am sure will do the job,” Brown said.
“I will just try to play my natural game”
“Its pretty disappointing seeing those two blokes get those sort of injuries but we have some depth. Cam King may get an opportunity this week and we will see what happens.” Brown added.
“He has been good at training. It’s a credit to him, he has had a couple of injuries but he has bounced back and I look forward to seeing him there.”
