Brad Arthur carved his coaching reputation on hard work but he’s prioritising relationships to turn Parramatta from wooden spooners back into NRL silverware contenders.

Just a month after the Sydney Roosters lifted the trophy, the Eels were one of the first four teams to return for the NRL pre-season on Thursday.

And while Arthur has promised that his players won’t be shirking the grunt work, he says strong relationships and unity are key to success in 2019.

“Sometimes we had a narrow focus, that we were just going to training, working hard, and preparing well,” Arthur told AAP.

“You get consumed with the hard work, which is great. But we’ve got to find a way to be more together, whether it’s in conversation or stuff out of footy.

“We can’t just be all about the footy.”

It was only two years years ago when the Eels were rocked by a salary cap scandal that forced the club to band together in the fallout.

It resulted in a fourth-placed finish in 2017 that set them up for a run this year. But they inexplicably fell to their worst season in Arthur’s five-year tenure.

“It’s not about going on and drinking the piss with each other. It’s trying to find out more about each other, and have that care factor,” Arthur said.

“Not just caring about, ‘f*** he’s good, he’s trained hard and we worked together”. It’s got to be more than that.

“It’s what we were good at in 2016-17. We had that bond because of the salary cap (dramas). We were tight and the players put it all together.

“We can’t all be just about footy. We’ve got to get our relationships stronger. When you have better conversations, you feel more comfortable to talk to people.

“The people you have a strong relationship with, you’re going to feel a lot more comfortable saying exactly what we need to say.

“This is on all of us – the whole club.”

Star signing Blake Ferguson will join the playing group in coming weeks following his role in the Sydney Roosters premiership.

However the club’s other recruits, including Junior Paulo and Shaun Lane, already began light workouts at the club’s headquarters earlier this week.

The coach is unsure whether the uncontracted Jarryd Hayne will join them, leaving any moves to fit him under the salary cap to club bosses.

The 2019 season shapes as critical in Arthur’s career as he is also coming off contract.

“I’m confident that I’d done a good job until last year,” Arthur said.

“There were still a lot of positive results in 2018, but results take the focus off that.

“All coaches are under pressure, but when the coach comes out and loses 2-3 in a row, well the pressure goes right up.

“I’m under no illusion that we’ve got to try and make sure we get the results, that’s what counts at the end of the day.”