As Mitchell Moses declared, Bankwest Stadium is Parramatta's jungle and club legend Peter Sterling has called for the players to cherish the state-of-the-art facility as a fortress to write a new chapter in their success-starved history.
The Eels christened the 30,000-seat ground with fireworks, lighting it up with 51 points to stamp their authority on the Tigers who will also call it home for four games in 2019.
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Treading carefully with his compliments on their 4-2 start to the season, Sterling crossed his fingers in hope that their new home could inspire the next generation of success and put an end to the reminiscing of his playing days.
''We're happy for other teams to come and play there and we'll share, but this is (our) home. We've had that patch of grass for over 70 years,'' Sterling toldWWOS.
''The dawn of a new era, let's hope so because we're sick and tired of talking about the golden 80's - we want a new era.
''I'm hoping that this will be the catalyst for it. We've got a good roster.
''There is a lot of pressure on these guys. If they had come out and put on an ordinary performance got beaten, what an anti-climax. But now everyone is hyped, confidence comes from that, we're getting players back in the next few weeks so the depth of our roster is going to get better.
"I was just really impressed. The fans were fantastic. It was a sea of blue and gold and I know that's a cliché but that's exactly what it was.
''I know it's six rounds into a competition but I think it puts is in good stead for the rest of the season knowing that's where we are going to be playing teams and teams are going to enjoy coming there, but it's going to be an intimidating atmosphere for them because we are going to have more fans than everyone else.''
Evident in their glorious Easter Monday triumph, Moses and fullback Clint Gutherson are the faces of the future, however the star duo remain unsigned beyond 2019.
Pressure mounted on the club to get signatures on paper from NRL pundit Matthew Johns, as well as the contract of coach Brad Arthur, but Sterling stands by the club's patient process in light of last year's results.
''We're not rushing it. We're going through the right process,'' he said.
''We've come off a wooden spoon. You can't rush in and do things off the back of that.
''There was an internal investigation, we've seen what successful clubs have done in these instances as well. We're following some good precedence's.
''If we happen to lose, God forbid, the next four games and suddenly things aren't so rosy and you've signed Brad Arthur then everyone wants to jump on your back and say 'hang on, you're coming off a wooden spoon and now you've rushed and signed him'.
'"We are six games into a new season - it is not the time to be concentrating on contracts.''
Replies
Great post and timely. Building nicely , a few more boxes to tick tho. Consistency being one.
The media are obsessed to point of being ridiculous. A new $360m stadium is christened with a high quality 50 point walloping and way too many of these media muppets can't find anything else to talk about but contracts. Stirling and Gurr's peice last week put some perspective into the conversation. It's time to move on, aside from it becoming boring, surely its embarrassing for these muppets to be doing the bidding for some sleazy player manager.
Agreed DDay. The media could be talking about how the stadium is helping to reshape the City of Parramatta and also game day experiences, or how the club is carefully building a solid roster. What they have continuously dished up is the same old lazy re-hashed dribble that we have come to expect from journalists writing about Parra. They wonder why people have stopped buying newspapers or their subscriptions.
Thanks Chief. Sterlo's pearls of wisdom. I love that Sterlo believes in the team, in patience, timing and always talks as he has never left us; always referring to us as "We". Inspiring.
Sterling has spoken!!! Legend on the field, legend bloke, lousy predictor.