Parramatta are set to rest up to "seven or eight" players against Penrith this weekend to ensure the Eels aren't caught with anyone being underdone like in last year's finals fade-out.
Eels captain
Clint Gutherson will sit out his first game since 2018 and will be joined on the sidelines by
Junior Paulo, who has been suspended for one game for a shoulder charge.
Back-rowers
Marata Niukora and
Shaun Lane both suffered head knocks in Saturday's upset of Melbourne and are likely to be kept on ice given they are on a six-day turnaround.
Lock
Nathan Brown is another candidate having played 22 games this year, while halves
Mitch Moses and
Dylan Brown have also borne heavy workloads around suspension and injury lay-offs this season.
Big-name backline casualties in last year's finals series led to the likes of
George Jennings and
Haze Dunster being pitched into a sudden-death final boasting only one NRL game between them across the entire 2020 season, with COVID-19 also forcing NSW Cup games to be cancelled.
Coach Brad Arthur
told SEN Radio that given a top-four finish requires a Manly loss and the Eels to upset Penrith, he will look to build up game time across his squad leading into week one of the finals.
"The plan is to rest probably seven or eight of them, and Gutho is one of them," Arthur said on Monday.
"A lot of our boys have played every game and in the last couple of years, we’ve had a bit of momentum going into finals and it hasn’t really made a difference.
Gutherson and others to be given a break by Arthur
"Last year in our second final we had three blokes that hadn’t played in a couple of months had to come in once we had injuries.
"We’re going to make sure everyone in our squad gets a game out … that equals more competition for spots, and we’ve got a healthy roster of blokes who are ready when called upon."
Suspensions and injuries to carve up team lists for finalists.
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