Dyldam Parramatta Eels head coach Brad Arthur says while the venue for this week’s home game is very different, his message to his side remains the same as they prepare to take on the Canberra Raiders.
The Saturday night game at Darwin’s TIO Stadium is part of a four-year eels partnership wight he Northern Territory Government, and will mark the Blue and Gold’s first ever NRL Telstra Premiership match in “Eels Territory”.
Eels staff, club legends, and ambassadors have been in the Territory all week, while the NRL squad flew into Darwin on Thursday before hitting the training field for their Captain’s Run on Monday morning.
“[This trip] is an opportunity for us to get away, to spend more time together and really bond, but at the end of the day no matter where we play or who we play against nothing changes on a weekly basis,” Arthur said.
“It’s about us being better than what we were last week. We’ve still got a lot of areas where we can improve and a lot of areas where we can maintain.”
“The individuals [in the team] have been really strong and tough on themselves about improvement. We’re reasonably happy with we’re where at but no ones’s comfortable and everyone’s still striving to be better.”
The Darwin August weather has been sitting around 30 degrees, and Arthur admits he’s hoping the warm conditions will give the Blue and Gold a slight edge over Canberra.
“We were expecting it probably to be a bit warmer,” Arthur said.
“The breeze has cooled it down and come 8pm tomorrow night it should be good conditions for a game.”
“It might feel like 40 [degrees] for us, might feel like 50 for them.”
