The Parramatta Eels are preparing to take on the St. George Illawarra Dragons in Round 15 of the NRL Telstra Premiership, and with over half the regular season now played out, Eels winger Semi Radrada’s time in the Blue & Gold may be coming to an end.
Radradra will leave the Blue & Gold at the end of the 2017 season to join French rugby side Toulon, however, the winger expressed his desire to play in his first NRL Finals series this season with a want to return to the Eels in the future.
“I just try to play good footy in the next couple of months now. I want to play Finals before I leave for France,” Radradra said.
“I would love to come back. I call this Club my home too. If there is a door open for me next year, I will come back.”
“The manager has been doing a lot of work, talking to the Club, but I will see after that.”
“I will miss playing rugby league. I grew up as a rugby union player, but I haven’t been playing for six years now. But for sure I will miss rugby league and I will be happy to come back if the door is open for me.” Radradra added.
“It was a pretty tough decision. I signed that contract because of whatever happened in the past, and if that didn’t happen, I would have been happy to sign here and stay a couple more years at Parra. It forced me to sign that contract, and give me time to clear my mind as well, try something different and come back.”
However his focus is purely on rebounding from the Eels loss to the Cowboys last week.
“Our possession plus our completion rate, it was not that high. We gave them the ball too much and defended for the whole set a couple of times so we need to control more of the ball,” Radradra said on last week’s clash.
“The Dragons will still be a tough game for us this week, they are a good side. They have been playing good every week and we have been working very hard the last couple of days.” He added.
“We stuck to our game plan last time, kicked the ball long and our defence was pretty solid. That is how we want to play them again this week.”
Radradra knows the next couple of weeks are vital for the Blue & Gold.
“There are opportunities that I need to take because they may only come once. If the is an opportunity there, I have to take it."
“It is good for the Club in that nobody has been selected for Origin. We are in good form, and some of the boys are coming back from injury, so the next couple of games we are looking forward to.”
One of the important combinations, is the halves pairing of Corey Norman and Mitch Moses, and Radradra says he loves playing alongside Moses and knows that time will only continue to improve his performances.
“Mitch is good having him here at the club, everyone here loves him and I’m happy to play alongside him too.”
“Mitch has only been at the Club for a couple of weeks now. The combination we are still trying to work on that, it is going to take time, but they are getting along together the last couple of days, have been training really hard and hopefully be in good form this week.” He added.
“Everyone was disappointed (after the Cowboys game) and everyone put their hands up. It’s not only the half, its all the players that took the field. Everyone was disappointed after that game.”
The Eels take on the Dragons at ANZ Stadium on Sunday 18 June for Round 15 of the NRL Telstra Premiership. Click here to purchase your tickets to the clash.
