Dyldam Parramatta Eels Head Coach Brad Arthur has praised his side’s commitment in its 14-12 win over the Sydney Roosters on Saturday night, but warned that there’s still improvement to be made.
“I thought they really dug deep and I was proud of them,” Arthur said.
“We’re developing a good attitude, I guess, in our defence.”
“We can play a lot better than that, but our spirit and the fact that we kept hanging in there and we defended our try line with a bit of composure was great. Our effort was there, we defended our try line for a number of sets and we looked composed; there’s a lot of trust there at the moment.”
And while fullback Jarryd Hayne’s try-saving strip on Sonny Bill Williams will be a fixture in highlights packages from the match, Arthur said Hayne’s biggest contributions to the team probably go unnoticed.
“In the six games we’ve played he’s been making little efforts like that,” Arthur said.
“He’s been coming up with some special big plays that probably a lot of people don’t notice because it’s not throwing a 20 metre cut out pass or chipping for himself.”
“They’re real one-percenter plays and it means a lot.”
Eels co-captain Tim Mannah said he was less pleased with the victory than he is with the competitive drive within the playing group.
“I guess the pleasing thing about the last few weeks is that we’ve come into game day knowing we’re going to compete,” Mannah said.
“I think that’s a really good quality to have in a team. We’re building a good culture, but like Brad said we’ve still got a lot of improvement in us.
“Everyone’s really carrying their weight, we just want to make sure we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”
“It’s Round 6, so even though it feels great and we do have a great environment, it’s early days. We want to keep performing and keep getting better every week.”
Click through to see the highlights from the Eels' Round 6 win!
