Arthur: We’ve put in a full 80 minutes

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Blue & Gold Head Coach Brad Arthur thought the 40-4 win against the St. George Illawarra Dragons at ANZ Stadium tonight was the team’s best effort of the season.

“It’s the first time all year we’ve put in a full 80 minutes,” Arthur said.

“Since the Darwin game (Round 14 v Cowboys) I think we’ve been consistent.

“We lost a couple of close games there (since Round 14). Probably more so around confidence than anything.”

In recent matches the Eels built leads in the first-half and Arthur was grateful to see the team continue that level of first-half play through to the full-time siren.

“It wasn’t a great start (to the second half).”

“But we showed plenty of resolve and it didn’t knock our confidence around, we just stuck to what we had to do.”

The win moves the Eels off the bottom of the ladder and into 15^th position, ahead of the North Queensland Cowboys on points differential.

“We’ve had our fair share of distractions.

“To the boys’ credit they’ve continued to come and bounce into training.”

“There’s been no shortcuts taken with their preparation to their performance and we need to continue doing that.”

Jaeman Salmon played his first full NRL match at five-eighth after a short stint off the bench against the Gold Coast Titans last week.

“Jaeman warmed into the game well.

“He was good physically, which was always going to be the test for him.”