Will Hopoate admits he was taken aback by the physicality of his first NRL game in two years, but says his best form isn’t too far away.

Hopoate looked impressive in the Eels’ 36-16 win over the Warriors on Sunday despite having not played a competitive fixture since Manly’s grand final win in 2012 due to his Mormon mission commitments.

The 21-year-old NSW representative laid on the first of Vai Toutai’s hat-trick of tries and clocked up 115 metres with the ball in his hands on a memorable night for new coach Brad Arthur.

“It was physical, fast, there are things I need to improve on to help the team,” Hopoate said.

“There is still a long way to go, but it’s always a physical game against the Warriors and I was tossed around a fair bit, but it was a nice welcome back to the elite grade.

“I think sooner rather than later I will be back to my best, but it is a team game and all 17 blokes have to turn up and play.”

Coach Brad Arthur was satisfied with the contribution of Hopoate and also fellow new boys Nathan Peats, Corey Norman and Manu Ma’u.

Back-rower Ma’u had a barnstorming first game, racking up almost 180 metres in an eye-catching display.

“He was pretty good and played off the back of our forwards and got some quality ball from inside,” Arthur said.

“Will was strong and is going to get better each week and was very positive in defence, which was good.

“But that’s all we can ask from him at the moment.”

Arthur also believes the Eels’ new halves combination of Corey Norman and Luke Kelly still have plenty of work to become a solid pairing.

“They were good in patches and there were a few times they were rusty,” he said.

“But they’ve only played 30 minutes together before tonight. We like to think they can get better, but we need to keep it simple at the moment.”