Eels downplay on-the-road hoodoo but travel early
PARRAMATTA coach Brad Arthur is once again tinkering with travel plans as his Eels look to overcome not only the powerhouse Melbourne Storm, but the worst road trip record in the NRL.
Despite their shock rise to the finals, Parramatta have won the fewest away games of any NRL side in the past two years.
According to the Fox Sports Lab, Parramatta lost 80 per cent of their road games in that time – worse than even the battling Newcastle Knights and Gold Coast Titans.
Last year the Eels lost every away game – and despite rising from the wooden spoon to the finals, the blue and golds have still dropped all but four of 11 games played outside Bankwest Stadium.
In a desperate bid to reverse the trend, Arthur has recently tried sending his team interstate on game day – a move that has brought mixed results.
Yet in preparation for tonight’s Storm showdown, Parramatta have once again switched things up by heading south yesterday.
As a result, senior Eels Blake Ferguson, Mitchell Moses and Nathan Brown are convinced the said hoodoo will not influence the result at AAMI Park.
“We’ll be fine,” Ferguson said. “At this time of year, it doesn’t matter what has happened in the past. We’re playing finals now and this is a whole new competition.”
Moses agreed, saying the Eels were prepared to “do a job against Melbourne”.
Brown said the team did not see the away record “as any sort of an issue”.
“Personally it doesn’t faze me when we travel,” the lock said. “I don’t care.
What matters is when you cross that white line, you’re ready to do the job for your team.”
Officially, the Eels have won five of 12 away games this year.
But one of those matches was against Wests Tigers at Bankwest Stadium, a venue that really belongs to them.
Of the other four wins, all came against teams that finished outside the top eight.
GAME DAY