Parramatta fans could be forgiven for thinking their season was already on life support after just 10 rounds, but coach Brad Arthur and Junior Paulo believe they can resuscitate their title claims with a stroke of luck.
The Eels have won just three of nine matches this season with a solitary win and two points from a bye over the last seven rounds, leaving them in 13th place on the ladder heading into a difficult Magic Round clash with Melbourne next weekend.
They showed some positive signs against Brisbane but couldn’t capitalise on enough of their chances, while the Broncos were the opposite.
“I was proud of the effort and physicality and that we’re still fighting and we’re trying to win and that was still right to the death,” Arthur said.
“We probably killed ourselves a bit. I think our completion ended up 50 per cent in the second half, but I think that was probably more from lost opportunities or bombed tries.
“I’d like to know how many tries we bombed tonight. We created a lot of opportunities we just didn’t ice them or finish them off. But I liked the style of footy that we were playing, I liked how we played.
“I know we had 30 points against us, but overall our defence is pretty good. It was two tries off kicks, and then two length of the field tries off our own errors.
“There’s a lot there, that if we continue to do and we continue to come with that effort and attitude, it’ll turn around and you know that the luck will start to go with this a little bit.
“We need to stay in the fight and I’m very confident if we play like that all the time we can turn it around.”
Paulo, who stepped up as captain in the absence of the injured Clint Gutherson, lamented the tries Broncos had scored from Eels mistakes.
“Those are the ones that we probably want to stop, you know, when we’re forcing our own errors, but I think the most frustrating thing was we lost,” he said.
“But our DNA still there. If we had a lost because we weren’t trying then it will probably be more frustrating but the fact that we’re right there, right to the end.
“The bounce of the ball just needs to go your way and we need to keep turning up with that same effort. We probably stop those, you know, if we keep turning up. It’s all about the bounce of the ball, hopefully it comes our way soon.”
Paulo said the Eels playing group still had plenty of belief that their season could be saved.
“We’re not turning up every week without that belief,” he said.
“And belief is what’s carrying us every week and we just know we’re not that far off. What I said sometimes you need a bit of luck, and you need effort to create luck.”
Arthur said star half Mitch Moses was some hope of returning for the Melbourne matchup and would be further assessed over the weekend as he recovers from foot surgery.