Dyldam Parramatta Eels recruit Corey Norman says he’s confident the side will be match-ready for Round 1, despite the several new faces around the club for 2014.
Norman, whose preference is to play five-eighth, says the pre-season focus has been on working well together with all of his new teammates.
“Obviously it’s going to take some time to gel, but training is going really well and we’re starting to work on that, and we’re close to gelling,” Norman said.
“But it’s going to take a little bit of time- and time will tell!”
With plenty of competition for spots in the halves, the former Brisbane Bronco says coach Brad Arthur hasn’t locked any positions in yet.
“We’ve all been swapping; me, Chris [Sandow], Luke Kelly, there’s no certainty there,” he said.
“I’ve been worrying about training hard and getting to know the other boys and how they play was well- that’s my main focus.”
Coach Arthur has previously stated the 23 year old playmaker is the type of person you can build a football club around - words which Norman finds flattering.
“It’s good to hear that from a coach, but I’m worrying about myself and getting a good pre-season under my belt,” he said.
“The goal’s to cement that starting spot, to play week in week out, and play well.”
“You’ve got to be confident, if you’re not confident you probably won’t get the spot, so I’m worrying about myself.”
The Eels were also preparing to go for a surfing lesson at Cronulla beach - and Norman was confident he won’t be giving up his day job as a footballer any time soon!
“I’m no good - I’m not much of a surfer, but I’d love to learn and it should be good,” he laughed.
“There’s a couple of Islanders in our team so I don’t think we’ll have too many surfers!”
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