Eels Press Conference - Round 21
Parramatta Eels Head Coach Brad Arthur thinks the rewards for giving great consistent effort paid dividends tonight with a 28-12 win against the Gold Coast Titans at ANZ Stadium.
"Since the Cowboys win in Darwin I think we've played real good footy," Arthur said.
"We played some games we probably should have won, we've been in every game.
"The boys haven't given up.
"We look a bit like what we're supposed to look like and what we did last year over the last six games."
The Eels built an intimidating lead in the first half, half-time gave Gold Coast the chance to recover.
"We probably would have liked for the game to keep rolling before half-time, instead of coming in for the break."
"Hopefully our supporters and fans can see that the boys are still putting in and trying to play with a bit of pride for the jersey."
At 22-12 with 13 minutes to go Tim Mannah was sent to the sin bin, and Arthur was proud to see the team keep and extend the lead.
"We put ourselves under some pressure again at the start of the second half, but the defence and the scrambling was good. Especially with 12 men.
"Our kicking game the last 20 minutes was probably a real good indicator of our mentality to grind the game out at the end.
"We probably need to be a touch more focused with our mentality to start the second half."
Match Highlights: Eels v Titans, Round 21
Mannah found some humour in being sent off.
"I haven't been sin binned in my whole life... I've done this twice in one year now," Mannah said.
"I've got to fix up my behaviour I guess."
Bevan French was the substitute to get NRL debutant Jaeman Salmon on the field, with Arthur saying it wasn't a planned move.
"We needed to get Jaeman (Salmon) on the field. He's been excited to play."
"He helped design the new team song, so I needed to give him a taste of victory and that's just what worked out tonight.
"We trained differently during the week, that's just how it went tonight."
Eels celebrate Titans win with new team song
