Michael Chammas - SMH
The Parramatta Eels have turned to night-time training to continue their push for a top four spot, altering their build-up in preparation for at least another five weeks of football under lights.
The Eels hit the training paddock on Monday night in preparation for Thursday night's ANZ Stadium showdown against old rivals Canterbury, with coach Brad Arthur well aware of his team's schedule over the final month of the regular season.
With the Eels flying high on the back of five consecutive wins, the perennial underachievers look set to play finals football for the first time since the Jarryd Hayne-inspired run of 2009.
And their coach isn't leaving any stone unturned, attempting to simulate the match-day conditions his team will confront over the coming weeks as it closes out the regular season with five successive night games.
There's also a strong likelihood the Eels will have to play under lights in the finals, with only one of the nine games in this year's play-offs to be staged during the day.
"I want our boys to try and get used to the dewy conditions," Arthur said. "It's something we might do a few more times this year. We were fortunate enough that it rained [on Monday night] because the forecast for ANZ Stadium on Thursday night is for rain. It's good to get a run under our belt in conditions that should be similar for the Dogs game."
The Eels have been dealt a friendly draw by the NRL, scheduled Thursday and Friday night games for the final six rounds of the season.
On the rise: Parramatta are on track to play finals football for the first time since 2009. Photo: AAPAfter Thursday night's game against the Bulldogs, they take on the Knights and Titans at home before a crucial away clash against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in round 25.
The Eels close out the year at home against a struggling South Sydney outfit with only pride to play for, meaning they only face one top-eight team to finish the season.
Arthur is unsure whether he'll continue the night-time training sessions into the finals, but said there were other reasons at play for calling his team in under lights.
"By the time the finals roll around the dewy conditions we're getting used to will probably be gone," Arthur said
"But we also trained at night so that we would have the opportunity to get a full opposed session in. Our NSW Cup team Wenty played on Sunday so half the boys played in that so we didn't have enough for an opposed session. I like to get a 13-on-13 opposed session in so we did it against the NYC boys on Monday night."
The Eels gave lock Nathan Brown the green light to play against the Bulldogs on Thursday night, cleared to return to the paddock after a heavy knock to the head against Brisbane last week.
Brown has been one of the Eels' best so far this season and is a huge inclusion for Parramatta against the big Canterbury pack. Arthur has named the same team that did the job against the Broncos in round 22 as his side looks to move into the top four this weekend.
Replies
I hope it works. It does sound a bit like Brian Smith doesn't it. More likely to get calf and hammy injuries training at night time this time of the year.
Time will tell if it works.
Go Parra.
We shouldnt be telling the other teams this, we should just be doing it and keeping it up our sleeves.
Fek oath we should be training at night and should have been doing it for years, we should be doing plenty of training in game conditions, with dew under lights.
I feel the same. There is too many Parra articles in the papers for my liking. We need to be the grey team for as long as we can.
no media at that time of night, so the calves blood can be distributed without caution
Just a question for those who have played under lights or know of playing under lights. What are the pro's and cons? Is there a particular way you play to be more safe or less risky? Are the bombs launched on the 5th in a different way? Is there as much dew to prefer to kick low than high? Just curious.
This Thursday has 100% chance of rain which means a slippery surface and a forward battle. Having trained in the rain on Monday night, it gives us a helping hand for this game. It means the kicking game will be crucial to win the field position battle. It also brings the Dogs into the game as their defence is solid and wet conditions take away the advantage that good attacking teams would usually have. I see it being a real tight game for 60-70 minutes and we can hopefully skip away near the end and win 22-8 or something similar.
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