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Parramatta Eels coach Brad Arthur has praised his team for their attitude, which has seen their season start drastically different to last year.
The Johnny Mannah Cup has returned to Parramatta for the first time in five years, after the Eels beat the Cronulla Sharks 24-12 in a grinding game at ANZ Stadium.
What Brad said about the game
“I thought both teams had a red hot crack. The completion rates were high; both teams were out on their feet. Our boys were saying that’s probably one of the fastest games they’ve played in,” Arthur said.
“I’m pleased that we learnt our lessons from last week. With 20 minutes to go last week, in a 10 set period we only touched the ball three times; our attention to detail wasn’t there or focus and concentration but tonight we just stuck to our guns and what we needed to do and go with it,” he said.
“I think they probably changed how they were going to play having those (injured) players out and they really came and grinded and grinded and that was our plan as well. They threw a lot of offloads and extra passes at the end of the game there and it was pleasing that our boys kept turning up,” he said.
The Eels halves combination
“He (Mitch Moses) was good. He was calm, stuck to the plan, kicked well and made his tackles,” Arthur said.
“(Jaeman Salmon) was good. He needed to play a secondary role to Mitch and I thought he did well, he got the ball to Laney and Jenko when he needed to, he pushed up around the footy and he was very calm in his defence,” he said.
On winning three games in four rounds
“Really it has nothing to do with me; it’s the player’s attitude. They have a real drive in their attitude,” Arthur said.
Blake Ferguson’s trick sideline play
“He has been trying to talk to our boys about that at training, he’s too smart isn’t he? At the time I wasn’t real happy but yeah he knows the rules, he knows the game well and he has told our boys about that, he’s practiced it at training so it’s not a fluke,” Arthur said.
Last home game at ANZ Stadium
“Yeah it’s good, we’ve had s couple of years here now and you know a couple of years ago our record here wasn’t great but now it’s not too bad if you take last year out of it. We enjoy playing footy here, but it will be nice to go back to a stadium where the crowd is right on top. The crowd can definitely help you for a period of time in the game,” Arthur said.
Winning the Johnny Mannah Cup for first time in five years
“Yeah it’s nice for Tim. We’ve been toiling away and toiling away and we finally got the job done tonight,” Arthur said.
