Dyldam Parramatta Eels Head Coach Brad Arthur has described Sunday’s loss to the Newcastle Knights as a learning experience for his young Eels side.
The 16-10 loss was one peppered with attacking opportunities for the Blue and Gold, but the Eels were only able to cross the tryline twice, despite the high completion rate for both sides.
“It was a high quality game,” Arthur said.
“Both teams competed close to 90% I think, but at the end of the day I think it came down to experience. Their experience showed through, and our lack of experience.”
“They managed the game better than us. We didn’t build any pressure, we didn’t get any repeat sets.”
Co-captain Jarryd Hayne pointed to fifth-tackle options as a key area for the Eels to work on before their Round 18 clash with the New Zealand Warriors.
“Obviously our end of sets weren’t the best,” Hayne said.
“That put a lot of pressure on us and we weren’t able to capitalise on the metres we were making and that’s probably the most disappointing thing.”
“We’re not satisfied about where we’re at: we’re definitely hard on ourselves.”
“We’ve got high expectations and high standards for ourselves and today sitting in the changeroom after that loss we were filthy. We felt we lost the game.”
“It wasn’t through lack of effort or trying it was just through lack of composure.”
