Dyldam Parramatta Eels halfback Kieran Foran says the Blue and Gold will enter their Round Eight clash against the North Queensland Cowboys with plenty of belief.
After coming away with a Round Two victory at Pirtek Stadium, Foran believes the Eels are playing well enough to come away with the two points.
“It will be a massive match up between the two teams,” Foran told the Big Sports Breakfast.
“They have probably been the stand out attacking side and we have been up there with the standout defensive sides so it will be a hell of a match.”
“We can take belief out of it, that we were able to beat them once at our home ground, shows that we can do it.” Foran added.
“If we play like that again, we believe that we will be able to beat them up there.”
The Cowboys have started the season with five wins from their opening seven games, the same record as the Eels, and Foran believes the clash against the Premiers will be a true gauge as to where the team is it.
“You see where you are at when you come up against these top sides, and in my eyes, Brisbane and the Cowboys are the top two at the moment,” Foran said.
“You really get the feel of where you are at when you face those guys, so we will get a good indication of that this Saturday night.”
“They have won all their home games, so it is very hard to go up there and come away with the two points but we certainly believe we are playing well enough to do so.” Foran added.
Shutting down Cowboys halves Johnathan Thurston and Michael Morgan will go a long way to claiming the two points, and Foran said Eels enforcer Beau Scott was primed for the challenge.
“Beau will be trying to do his best on Morgan and Thurston.” Foran said..
“He loves the challenge of coming up against JT.”
“He really wants to try get off the line and get into them because he is just that sort of player. He will be doing everything he can to stop their attacking raids and keep our defensive line in tact.”
As Foran noted the Eels strong defensive start to the season, the captain said there were still plenty of improvements left in the side, in both defence and offence.
“We have sat down as a group and we are pretty pleased with how we have started the year, although we still feel there is a lot of improvement in us,” Foran said.
“Our attack is still coming along, it will take time, but we are reasonably happy with the amount of points we are still scoring. If we can just keep defending the way we are defending, we are going to be in most games and we will give ourselves every opportunity to win most contests.”
“Defence is the main area we worked on throughout the pre-season. We wanted to focus heavily on our defence and making sure we were keeping sides to a minimum and it has been pleasing to start the year the way we have, but there is still a long way to go yet.” Foran added.
The Dyldam Parramatta Eels take on the North Queensland Cowboys at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday 23 April, kick off at 7:30pm.
