The Dyldam Parramatta Eels are preparing to take on the Canberra Raiders at Pirtek Stadium this Saturday 9 April, and halfback Kieran Foran says the Blue and Gold are focused on rebounding from last week’s defeat.
Foran expects plenty of traffic to be run at him this weekend, and the skipper says the Eels will need to be on their game this weekend.
“We were obviously really disappointed to let that one slip but we have addressed the issues and moved on from it. We are just focusing on Canberra now.” Foran said.
“They were really impressive against the Bulldogs the other night, and they look like they will make a good run of it this year so we will have to be on our game and do everything we can to stop their go forward.” Foran added.
Starting the season 3-2, after victories over the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs, North Queensland Cowboys and Wests Tigers, Foran said whilst the side is happy with the start to their 2016 campaign, they are no way satisfied.
“The start to the season is pretty fair to how we have been travelling. We think we have had a reasonably good start so far, we have played some tough teams and we are 3-2 so we are pretty happy, but not comfortable,” Foran said.
“We obviously know there is a lot of improvement in moving forward.”
Whilst the defence of the Blue and Gold has been strong, Foran knows the Eels attack has plenty of improvement in it.
Whilst the attack has not yet gelled, Foran said the Eels offence is not far off.
“The defence has been good and the attack will take time. There are a lot of new combinations, a lot of new players so it just about gelling,” Foran said.
“We have been unfortunate. Our attack hasn’t been too bad, we have been one pass off here or there, so it could have been a different story if we execute those plays so we are not too worried about it, it will just take time.” He added.
“We have so much pace out wide, it would be nice to get a game that really opens up and we can feed those guys early ball. At the moment, we probably have ourselves to blame.”
“We are turning over so much ball and not getting a great deal of possession, we just can’t seem to open the game up and give those guys the ball we would like to. If we complete better, hopefully we can lay on a few more tries.”
And with the Eels forward pack missing the experienced Club Captain Tim Mannah through injury this weekend, Foran pinpointed back rower and potential Kiwi teammate Manu Ma’u as somebody who can stand up and get the Eels on the front foot.
“Manu is obviously a great player. He is someone we turn to, and a really great leader for us in the forward pack,” Foran said.
“He brings that passion and aggression that we like to have in our side so we are all for it and we back him 100% in what he does and he is able to get us on the go forward and really give us some grunt there.”
“We love what he brings to the side.”
The Round Six clash is part of a triple header at Pirtek Stadium, with the NRL game following the NYC clash (10:40am) and Wentworthville Magpies clash (12:40pm).
NRL kick off is at 3pm, with the match shown live on Fox Sports 1.
Click here to purchase tickets and see the Round Six Game Day Preview.
