Dyldam Parramatta Eels co-captain Tim Mannah says there is no better occasion than this week's home game to revive the Blue and Gold’s season.
Parramatta will host the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on Monday night in the second annual Johnny Mannah Cup, and will be looking to continue this season's undefeated run at Pirtek Stadium.
“I think we’ve got a squad this year that’s pretty good at bouncing back, not only in terms of game day, but if we have a bad training session we’ll back it up with a good one next time,” Tim said.
“The last two years it usually compounds, so you have a bad loss and it would just snowball, but I think for us at the moment we’ve got a good coaching staff and players that are pretty hungry for success."
“We have a team here who want to compete and we know when we come to game day, whichever team we have on the field, they all want to go out there and perform as hard as they can, and do themselves and their fans proud.”
“That’s really important for us, we really want to make sure we make amends for our last game with a good performance.”
As a Parramatta veteran, Tim is aware of the need to avoid being distracted by their back-to-back wins - or their two losses leading into Representative Round - and remain focused on competing every week.
“Eight rounds in we’ve won four, lost four so we’re travelling a little bit mediocre at the moment,” Tim said.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead of ourselves with too many games, but we want to make sure that we take advantage of the next few weeks and do the best we can to get our season back on track.”
As well as being a chance for the Eels to rebound with a win at home, Monday's game will have added significance for Tim and his family, as the Eels play the Sharks for the Johnny Mannah Cup.
“We’re very honoured and very humbled that we get to relive Johnny’s memories and we’re very thankful to both clubs for keeping his legacy alive," Tim said.
"But at the same time both teams have a game to play, and both want to get the win.”
“Johnny’s obviously left a huge impact on myself but also on both clubs and it’s really great we get to keep his legacy alive with this great game.”
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