Dyldam Parramatta Eels Holden Cup coach Justin Holbrook says their 29-26 loss to the Warriors in their preliminary final is “shattering”, but he’s proud of the side’s efforts this season.
“I’m obviously shattered at the moment, and really disappointed,” Holbrook said.
“You need a bit of luck at this time of year, and we didn’t get it tonight.”
In his first season with the Eels, Holbrook says it’s been incredible to get this far.
“The first half we played very nervous, and made a few errors, and I knew if we settled down in the second half we could win the game and for 79 and a half minutes we did that,” he said.
“It’s a credit to them, most sides would have been down 40-0 at halftime playing that poorly, we completed 40 percent we were all over the shop.”
“To their credit that’s the spirit they’ve got in them and they have done that themselves, but unfortunately we just fell short.”
While it’s tough for Justin to look at the rest of the year through the disappointment, he says he couldn’t be prouder of his side.
“I’m just disappointed and a bit lost at the moment, but obviously when I look back I’m proud of the boys and the rest of it, but gee it would have been nice to be playing next week,” he said.