Dyldam Parramatta Eels hooker Nathan Peats says watching his team-mates lose to the Sydney Roosters on the weekend was one of the toughest things he’s ever gone through as a professional footballer.
The Eels travel to Brookvale Oval this Sunday to play the 2013 grand-finalists, Manly Sea Eagles, and Peats is confident the Blue and Gold can bounce back for this week.
“It was obviously disappointing and a bit embarrassing for me and the boys, but the best thing about footy is there’s always a new week and today it starts,” he said.
“It was a bad performance - we just did review and it wasn’t acceptable, we all know that, but you don’t make semis in Round 2.”
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Peats missed the game after accepting a one-week’s suspension for an off-field incident during his off-season break, and says he can’t wait to be back on wearing the Eels jersey.
“I was just disappointed I wasn’t out there, no NRL team should be beaten by that much, especially considering how well we played in Round 1,” he said.
“Hopefully [I can repay with] a good 80 minute performance this week, I thought I went alright Round 1 against the Warriors, and that’s the reason I came to Parra, to play long minutes and some consistent footy, so hopefully I can repay the boys this week.”
“It’s a big challenge coming up against grand finalists of Manly, but after last week, if we can bounce back and play how we played Round 1, hopefully we can have a decent go.”
Peats says the team has gone through the performance of their Round 2 drubbing and now the boys can work on improving for Sunday afternoon.
“BA’s a real positive coach, and you can’t really come down on the player too hard otherwise everyone will be walking around with sad faces all week, but we got what we deserved in there,” he said.
“It’s a week to week thing, hopefully we can show Manly what we have - and I know we’ve got more to offer.”
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