Dyldam Parramatta Eels halfback Kieran Foran has praised the efforts of the Blue and Gold’s forwards in the Eels’ 20-16 Round 2 win over the North Queensland Cowboys.
The Eels’ went toe-to-toe with the defending premiers in a nail-biter at Parramatta’s Pirtek Stadium, and Foran said the Blue and Gold pack made an obvious impact.
“I thought our forward pack was brilliant tonight,” Foran said.
“They really worked hard, they’ve had a tremendous off-season, they’ve put in the hard work and I thought they really turned up for one another and got us on the front foot.”
“The pleasing thing I think, as a team, was that we went out there and set the tenor with our defence early on and we carried it on for the full 80 [minutes] and that’s what you win games off the back of, is your defence.”
“The Cowboys have got strike all over the paddock ,and they’ve also got the world’s best player in Johnathan Thurston, so you have to be on your game and you have to be on defensively.”
And while the home side put in a powerful defensive performance in front of their home crowd, the Eels captain said the attacking structures remain a work in progress.
“It’ll take time to build combinations there,” Foran said.
“I have missed a lot of training and that’s something that we’ll work hard on in the coming weeks.”
The Round 2 win was Foran’s first appearance in his new colours, having missed Round 1 with a hamstring complaint, but the halfback was optimistic of managing his condition over the coming weeks.
“It’s not too bad,” Foran said.
“I’m just monitoring my loads at the moment and trying to get through week to week, but we’re pretty confident that I’ll be close to 100% for next week.”
