Thursday night’s top eight showdown between Parramatta and Brisbane is emerging as one of the most important games of the season for Brad Arthur’s team.
The showdown at BankWest Stadium sees both sides evenly poised at a key part of the season, with the top four remaining a realistic hope. A loss here, however, and that task would get harder.
Both the Eels and Broncos have recorded 11 wins this season and sit on 24 competition points. The fifth placed Broncos have the for-and-against edge over the sixth placed Eels.
Parramatta come into Thursday night’s game on the back of consecutive weeks, a big plus for Arthur’s team as he looks to string victories together at the back end of the season.
Last Friday night’s 28-18 win over the Warriors never looked in doubt, despite the opposition clearly showing up with intent. The visitors fought for the full 80 minutes and even laid on two late tries to add some respect to the scoreline.
“I was really happy for 75 minutes,” Arthur said post-game.
“I definitely didn’t want it to finish the way that it did. The scoreline probably didn’t reflect our dominance and our control, but we have to learn from that.
“It was just some concentration lapses.”
Arthur was pleased with the performance of winger Maika Sivo, who produced his best performance since returning from an ACL injury.
“He’s just starting to get some confidence,” he said.
“I thought last week we saw some really good signs and the boys gave him a bit of praise this week about his fitness.
“He’s worked really hard. He’s getting some confidence and he likes playing here.”
The forwards were part of the key to victory against the Warriors and Arthur admitted post-game it was talked about in the lead-up to the contest.
“We felt like we needed to target a number around our metres tonight and we needed to control possession,” he said.
With the attention now focused on Thursday night, Eels captain Clint Cutherson says he can’t wait to come up against one of the most in-form teams in the competition.
“It’s going to be a big one. Brisbane has been one of the best teams all year,” he said.
“We’ll hopefully get a good crowd. We’re looking forward to it… it’s the type of footy you want at this time of the year.
“We’ve just got to rest up and get ready for Thursday.
Another player looking forward to what should be a big forward battle is Reagan Campbell-Gillard. He was in fine form in the first half against the Warriors last week, but
Arthur said it’s got nothing to do with his recent State of Origin snubbing.
“He’s moved on from that. We saw that in his performance last week,” he said.
“He doesn’t need any extra motivation. He just does his job.”
Troy Dodds is Parra News' Managing Editor and Breaking News Reporter. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working with some of Australia’s leading media organisations. In 2023, he was named Editor of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.