While Parramatta have been one of the big improvers, they go into Saturday’s clash on the Gold Coast needing to overcome the game’s worst away record to keep their finals hopes alive.
Fox Sports’ stats dating back to 2011 show the Eels have won five of their past 52 away from Parramatta Stadium. To put that in perspective, North Queensland have nine wins from their last 42 matches in Sydney since 2007.
Coach Brad Arthur has done a wonderful job rebuilding the Eels after back-to-back wooden spoons, but injuries and lack of depth and experience have halted their charge over the past month.
The Eels need to break their away hoodoo to boost their finals chances.
The Eels need to break their away hoodoo to boost their finals chances.
Parramatta are hoping co-captain Tim Mannah will return from injury today, but the Eels will still be without a stack of stars including Nathan Peats, Will Hopoate, Manu Ma’u and Darcy Lussick.
“It does make it hard,” Arthur said. “We are not looking for excuses, but over the last four or five games we have had on average seven to eight players that would be in your 17 every week, we’ve had them out.
“If you do that to any club — if you took seven or eight players out of the Roosters or Melbourne, I wonder how they would be travelling.
“But it is definitely not an excuse for us. We just need to get back in the winner’s circle regardless of where we sit on the table. We just need to get a bit of confidence back.”
Eels target tighter defence to boost finals hopes
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The Eels have only managed two away wins this season, although one of those was against the Broncos in round five.
“I can’t really answer (why),” Arthur said when asked about the poor away record. “Your squad changes, circumstances change. But it is a good opportunity when you are away because you are together and there shouldn’t be any outside distractions.”
Overall, it is a crucial weekend in the hunt for top eight sports with eight teams in contention for the last three finals spots.
Up the top of the table Manly, Penrith and Canterbury are pretty much guaranteed a finals berth, while the Rabbitohs and Roosters are well on target.
But the Broncos, Warriors, Storm, Tigers, Cowboys, Titans, Dragons and Eels are in a dogfight.
The Eels need to start winning away from home to keep their finals chances alive.
The Eels need to start winning away from home to keep their finals chances alive.
If the Eels can knock over the Titans they will then play the last-placed Sharks at Cronulla and the Raiders in Darwin the following week.
After that they face the Bulldogs at ANZ, the Sea Eagles at Parramatta, the Knights in Newcastle and the Raiders in Canberra.
But with only one game to come at Parramatta, their test will be how they overcome the road hoodoo.
“At the moment we are fortunate enough that we have put ourselves in the position where we still control what we get out of the season,” Arthur said. “We don’t have to rely on other things at the moment.
“We just have to rely on making sure we turn up with the right attitude and show the right amount of desperation to try and scrounge out the win however we can.”
Replies
Hi DS, at the start of the season I hoped that BA could get us out of the bottom 4 on the ladder & if he achieves that, I still think that he has had a good 1st season as a FG coach.