Eels Blogs

Ready to play finals footy for the first time in eight years, The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Eels boast a 77 per cent success rate at the Olympic venue this year, including wins in eight of their past nine matches.

The revival represents a huge turnaround from midway through 2015 when they were winning just five per cent of games at the venue.

Starting in 2010, Parramatta went on a horror run in which they won only once in 18 games at the venue, which included a 14-game losing streak.

According to Fox Sports Lab, they have enjoyed a dramatic reversal in fortunes since making ANZ Stadium their temporary home base this year heading into their clash with South Sydney on Friday night, when they can wrap up a top-four berth.

“Our form this year, it doesn’t surprise us,’’ Eels skipper Tim Mannah said.

“And we won’t be going into the final series like stunned mullets, either. We’re aware of what we can do as a team.

“Plus, there’s a real resilience among this squad. The boys here have been through a lot over the past 12 months.

“But to see the way they’ve handled it, to see how a guy like Corey Norman has matured, it’s been great.”

Mannah is also set to end his unwanted reign as the player with the longest wait between NRL finals games — a run that stretches back to the 2009 grand final.

“And to know it’s ending, it feels great,’’ the Eels forward said. “For a while there it felt like anything that could go wrong for us, did. There were so many changes.

“A new coach would come in and change the football staff. Or a new CEO would come in and change the office staff. Every time it felt like we were starting again.

“But under (coach) Brad Arthur, we’ve finally got some stability.

“And the excitement you get coming into a finals series, I haven’t had it for a long, long time. Not since my debut season.

“Each year you come in believing things are going to change ... so it’s been a long wait.”