The Parramatta Eels turned Bankwest Stadium into their fortress in 2019 and halfback Mitch Moses hopes the revised NRL draw will see the club’s continued success in the revamped season.
As well as playing their own home games at Bankwest, the Eels will also play 'away' games there against Canterbury, South Sydney, Cronulla and the Sydney Roosters.
Moses doesn’t see any team being advantaged over another by the new draw, but said the Eels know the field “pretty well”.
“You know there’s not 30-thousand Parramatta fans there screaming and helping you out through the game so that will be a bit different … “ Moses said.
“… but hopefully we know the field too well and can get some teams and get some wins there I guess,” he said.
The Eels play the Sea Eagles, Bulldogs, Panthers, Broncos and Wests Tigers twice, and the remainder of the draw once.
Mitch Moses: Player Media
The Eels are being touted as the ‘winners’ from the new draw, but Moses said they can’t read too much into it.
“We haven’t handled it very well in the past, I think 2018 showed that, but we are just going to focus on what we can do and we’re not going to worry about anything else outside of our little bubble,” he said.
“We’ve just got to focus on what we can do and on ourselves. If we start worrying about everyone else, that’s when it will affect our footy.”
The Eels will kick off the season for a second time this year, on Thursday night against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.
“I guess that (round three) will be pretty exciting,” Moses said.
“We have had a long lay off, what eight to ten weeks we haven’t played footy? So I think if you ask any player, they’ll be saying first round back, so that’s probably the game,” he said.