The Parramatta Eels have come away with a gutsy 32-24 victory over the New Zealand Warriors at ANZ Stadium tonight (Friday 2 June).
The Eels hung tough to grind out the victory, with Head Coach Brad Arthur proud of his side’s brave performance.
“Yeah it was real brave performance.” Arthur said in the post match press conference.
“That’s our third week in a row that we’ve come up against really big packs and our forwards have done a really good job.”
“At 20 minutes to go they sent out there three big boppers to go through the middle, we managed to hang on.” He added.
WATCH THE MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
The Eels were faced with adversity, losing Kaysa Pritchard in the opening ten minutes, Josh Hoffman at half time and David Gower with 20 minutes to go.
Yet with one man on the bench, the Blue & Gold side hung tough.
“There were plenty of blokes who took the field tonight that probably shouldn’t of, so they’re bashed up a little bit they’ll be right. They’ll have to aim up again for us next week.” Arthur said.
“It just showed me, and our supporters and their teammates how important the win was and how important this season is to them.”
“We work really hard like any other team and it’s finally starting to show a bit on the field.”
“We’re a different group. Last year helped but it’s been four years we’ve been trying to mould the team that we want and the team that we want to be. Tonight was an example of it but it’s no good if we don’t back it up every week.” Arthur added.
Whilst the injuries hit the side, captain Beau Scott said the side had to get the two points no matter what adversity faced the side.
“Obviously its not ideal, it was a gritty performance on our behalf. I thought the boys hung in well. We knew we had to get the two points tonight no matter which way we did it and we did it the hard way. I’m pretty proud of the group.” Scott said.
“Like I said, it’s not ideal. You’d rather play with the seventeen. I guess it gives BA a bit of an easy decision when there’s one on the bench left.”
“Obviously I tried to be an influence, a positive one. That’s my role in the team as the captain I guess.” He added.
Arthur also paid credit to the captain.
“To be honest I thought he was outstanding tonight. I told him at half time I needed a big second half and that’s exactly what he produced for us.” Arthur said.
Arthur had particular praise for half Clint Gutherson, who had a hand in two tries before crossing in the final minutes of the match to put a stamp on the Eels victory.
“He’s just a footballer. He’s a genuine footballer. His very committed, he wants to make something out of his career.” Arthur said.
“His just a competitor, he wants to win and that’s how he trains. You don’t train like that and not play like that. He gives himself every chance, every weekend to be one of our better players.”
And the praise continued for forward Nathan Brown, who Arthur said probably shouldn’t of taken the field.
“Shouldn’t of played. We needed something from him, to play eighty minutes,” Arthur said of Brown.
“He is not the biggest forward going around, they’re quite a big pack. He just kept on carting it into them and taking his punishment.”
