Brad Arthur has seen this movie before. Only recently, in fact.
It was just two years ago when Parramatta entered an NRL campaign with high hopes after adding star talent to a side that finished semi-finalists the season prior.
That 2018 season had a sad ending with the Eels taking the wooden spoon.
But there are a couple of reasons why Arthur is confident this year’s version will prove the box-office smash hit critics are expecting it to be.
For one, their planning has been different.
Arthur took a lesson from a poor build-up to the 2018 season which resulted in the Eels dropping their opening six games.
During that pre-season, only two players from the top squad trialled for 40 minutes.
“I’ve been very honest in taking accountability for it. There’s a couple of reasons in the pre-season, we just didn’t get it right around preparation,” Arthur told AAP.
“We’ve made sure we haven’t made those same mistakes.”
Part of the excitement this year has been born out of the club’s recruitment of representative-calibre players in Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Ryan Matterson.
Both were unhappy in their roles last year and will be out for a renaissance.
“A couple more voices in our forward pack to help out Nathan Brown and Junior (Paulo), just a bit more leadership from both these players,” Arthur said.
“They’ll be good for our young blokes.”
But the most significant reason why Arthur believes this year will be different is because his entire spine from last year have returned for another season.
For the first time in his six-year tenure, Arthur has had the same fullback, five-eighth, halfback and hooker for consecutive summers.
And this time they’ve been working with a legend of the industry in Andrew Johns.
“With the inclusion of the work that Andrew has done with them on a weekly basis, that’s helped them as well,” Arthur said.
“They’ll get better, those four blokes, in terms of their combination.
One of those stars, halfback Mitchell Moses, has transformed into an A-lister.
When the Eels finished with the spoon in 2018, Moses and Corey Norman struggled to figure out who would be relegated to best supporting playmaker.
But, without Norman on the team list last year, Moses was crowned Dally M Halfback of the Year and finished five points shy of claiming the major gong.
This year, Moses wants to find a new level of consistency in every film review.
“People are watching everything he says and does,” Arthur said.
“He really enjoyed when we won, but he was really disappointed in the games that we lost because he understands the team is a reflection of how he played.
“In some of those games we lost, he wasn’t at his best.
“That’s a real challenge, that’s part of his motivation this year – he wants to be the same player week in, week out.”
It may have all the makings of an NRL classic but Arthur has seen this movie before and warns his team about the pitfalls of buying into the hype.
“We know about the external expectations and we’re happy with the team we’ve got,” he said.
“You can see that in the players, the way they train, the way they behave around training, how they carry themselves.
“You can see that they’ve got expectations on themselves individually and as a group.”
PARRAMATTA
Finishes over the past three seasons: 2019 – 5th, 2018 – 16th, 2017 – 4th
Coach: Brad Arthur
Captain: Clinton Gutherson
Key gains: Reagan Campbell-Gillard (Panthers), Ryan Matterson (Eels)
Key losses: Manu Ma’u (Super League), Tepai Moeroa (rugby union), Tim Mannah (retired)
Best team: 1. Clinton Gutherson, 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Michael Jennings, 4. Waqa Blake, 5. Blake Ferguson, 6. Dylan Brown, 7. Mitchell Moses, 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Reed Mahoney, 10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 11. Shaun Lane, 12. Ryan Matterson, 13. Nathan Brown. Bench: 14. Brad Takairangi, 15. Daniel Alvaro, 16. Kane Evans, 17. Marata Niukore.
Predicted finish: 2nd
