Eels friendships on hold for Mateo
Ian McCullough AAP Sun, Mar 11, 2012 - 3:31 PM
A piece of his heart will always be with Parramatta, but Warriors backrower Feleti Mateo will be doing his best on Monday to inflict more misery on his beloved Eels.
The 27-year-old backrower, who grew up in Sydney's western suburbs, played 88 times for the Eels in a six-year career, before moving across the Tasman last year, and counts a number of the squad including Jarryd Hayne among his closest friends.
However, those feelings will put be on hold for 80 minutes at Parramatta Stadium as last year's beaten grand finalists aim for their first win of the new campaign.
Mateo maintains the Warriors will be in for a tough test against Stephen Kearney's side, but says all sentiment will be put to one side.
"I feel attached to the place," Mateo said.
"There's still a lot of people there that I've made some great relationships with and hopefully I'll get a chance to see them when I go back there.
"But this (Auckland) is my home now. I feel so happy here, and I'm just going back there to do a job and hopefully we can get the win."
The Warriors lost their season opener 26-20 to Manly last Sunday following a woeful first half display, but inspired by brilliant young halfback Shaun Johnson, they fought back from 16-0 down before Manly made sure of the points with a late Glenn Stewart try.
Skipper Simon Mannering has warned his players they cannot afford another slow start with the Eels tipped to make Hayne and Queensland centre Willie Tonga late inclusions following injury lay-offs.
"Parramatta's always a tough place to play and we don't get many chances to play on a Monday night so it'll be a bit different for the team," Mannering said.
"They'll be just as keen for the two points, they had a tough season last year and missed out in round one, and have got a few new players and a couple of pretty good attacking halves.
"We've got to be fundamentally a bit better than we were against Manly."
http://www.nrl.com/eels-friendships-on-hold-for-mateo/tabid/10874/newsid/66244/default.aspx
Ian McCullough AAP Sun, Mar 11, 2012 - 3:31 PM
A piece of his heart will always be with Parramatta, but Warriors backrower Feleti Mateo will be doing his best on Monday to inflict more misery on his beloved Eels.
The 27-year-old backrower, who grew up in Sydney's western suburbs, played 88 times for the Eels in a six-year career, before moving across the Tasman last year, and counts a number of the squad including Jarryd Hayne among his closest friends.
However, those feelings will put be on hold for 80 minutes at Parramatta Stadium as last year's beaten grand finalists aim for their first win of the new campaign.
Mateo maintains the Warriors will be in for a tough test against Stephen Kearney's side, but says all sentiment will be put to one side.
"I feel attached to the place," Mateo said.
"There's still a lot of people there that I've made some great relationships with and hopefully I'll get a chance to see them when I go back there.
"But this (Auckland) is my home now. I feel so happy here, and I'm just going back there to do a job and hopefully we can get the win."
The Warriors lost their season opener 26-20 to Manly last Sunday following a woeful first half display, but inspired by brilliant young halfback Shaun Johnson, they fought back from 16-0 down before Manly made sure of the points with a late Glenn Stewart try.
Skipper Simon Mannering has warned his players they cannot afford another slow start with the Eels tipped to make Hayne and Queensland centre Willie Tonga late inclusions following injury lay-offs.
"Parramatta's always a tough place to play and we don't get many chances to play on a Monday night so it'll be a bit different for the team," Mannering said.
"They'll be just as keen for the two points, they had a tough season last year and missed out in round one, and have got a few new players and a couple of pretty good attacking halves.
"We've got to be fundamentally a bit better than we were against Manly."
http://www.nrl.com/eels-friendships-on-hold-for-mateo/tabid/10874/newsid/66244/default.aspx
