Brad Arthur has shrugged off Parramatta’s woeful recent record against South Sydney but warned his players it will continue unless they improve the way they start matches.
The Rabbitohs have won the past seven meetings between the sides – a run stretching back to the 2010 NRL season – and are chasing a fourth straight victory in an ominous-looking start to the defence of their premiership.
Arthur’s side started the season in brilliant style with a 42-12 win over Manly but lost to Canterbury and the Warriors in their past two outings.
Last Saturday in Auckland saw the Warriors race out to 28-0 lead before finishing the second half well to add some respectability to the final 29-16 scoreline.
It was a similar tale against the Bulldogs who raced to an early 8-0 lead before being pegged back by the Eels who led 12-8, before Des Hasler’s side ran out 32-12 victors.
“I didn’t know about seven in a row and I am sure the players aren’t aware either,” Arthur said.
“That (record) would be over five or seven years. How much has this team changed? How much has their team changed?
“We started slow against the Warriors and against the Bulldogs too and that killed us.
“They had 13 sets to our two and Warriors had 12 to our three to start the game … against any team if you start off making a hundred more tackles you are going to run out of juice.”
The Eels return to Pirtek Stadium on Friday, a venue that has seen them win 10 of their past 12 but ironically it was Michael Maguire’s side who were the last to leave with two points following their 32-12 win in July last year.
Arthur admitted playing at their acoustically-friendly home ground gives his players a boost and backed the crowd to get the best out of Anthony Watmough, who has struggled to match his barnstorming debut against Manly in round one.
“The crowd helps us, but Souths are a team that control field position and give you the ball where they want to give you the ball,” he said
“‘Choc’ (Watmough) sets high standards like we all do and he didn’t live up to them last week. But it’s one game there’s a long way to go. He’s been around a long time and played nearly 300 games.”
PARRAMATTA EELS v SOUTH SYDNEY
KEY STATS
* The Rabbitohs are chasing eight successive wins against the Eels for the second time after last doing so between 1964 to 1967.
* Despite their poor recent record, the Eels have a decent record against Souths at Pirtek Stadium winning eight of their past nine clashes at the venue since 1997.
* Since 2012 South Sydney has the most half-time wins of any team, (41 from 48 games) and the Eels have the third fewest come-from-behind wins of any team, just five in 47 matches.
