Parramatta must find another gear or face an early exit from what looms as the Eels’ first NRL finals appearance since 2009.

That’s captain Tim Mannah’s honest assessment of where his seventh-placed side is ahead of their stern test against Brisbane at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

Mannah said they would be handed a footballing lesson by the third-placed Broncos if they continue to turn in efforts like they did in their 17-16 win over the lowly Wests Tigers last weekend.

“We turned over a lot of cheap ball, there are a lot of parts of our game that we need to improve and a side like the Broncos, they’re a good side and they’ll make you pay,” he said.

“After the game we spoke about how we do need to take our game to another level.

“We’re are capable to playing better than we have for the last few months.

“The pleasing thing is we’ve had good results but at the end of the day if we want to be serious contenders this year, we need to take our game to another level.

“The feeling after the Tigers game was we know we’re a lot better than what we played.”