Dyldam Parramatta Eels Head Coach Brad Arthur has confirmed that halfback Kieran Foran is a possibility of taking the field at Pirtek Stadium on Monday, after training with his teammates on Friday morning in Parramatta.
“He has done a fair bit of work whilst he has been away,” Arthur said.
“Now he just needs to get back into the fold with the team but I am sure he will just fit straight back in.”
“He has probably done more training than the players have,” Arthur added.
“He has managed to do a bit of kicking, with the skill training, he hasn’t done a lot of but you saw his first game with us against the Cowboys in Round Two where he had been off a limited preparation and he did enough to help us get over the line.”
“It is the same if he had an injury for 3-4 weeks, he has missed two games so it’s not that long away from the game.”
If the number seven slots back into the side for the Round 11 fixture, Arthur confirmed that Brad Takairangi will return to his preferred centre position.
“’Takaz’ will go back out into the centres, and whilst Foz will really help with our attack, he is probably more prominent with our defence,” Arthur said.
“Brad has done a really good job for us in the halves but there is a really big difference from the centres.”
“Your tackle account probably gets doubled [in the halves], and your decision-making is different, but he did a good job. But with Foz back that will really help our defence on the right edge.”
The Eels have dealt with plenty of off-field distractions recently, and Arthur welcomed the chance for the playing group as a whole to forget speculaton and focus on rebounding from a heartbreaking Round 10 loss to the Rabbitohs.
“Maybe we were a little bit underdone with our preparation going into the Souths game,” Arthur said.
“It’s not an excuse: we did enough to win the game, [and] we threw it away, but yes, there has been a lot more footy concentrated on this week.”
The next test for the Blue and Gold comes against the in-form Melbourne Storm, which Arthur predicts will be no easy encounter.
“They are playing really well. Obviously with a couple of big players that they have got, and a good coach, they are well drilled and everyone does their job really well,” Arthur said
“We are going to have to make sure we play our style of footy and not try to be dragged into their style.”
“Our completions, making our tackles and just doing all the real basic fundamentals of the game right will give us an opportunity to play a bit of footy at them.”
The Eels take on the Melbourne Storm at Pirtek Stadium on Monday 23 May. Click here to see all the Round 11 Game Day Info or to purchase your tickets to the clash.
