JASON Taylor has had an amazing ride since taking over as Parramatta caretaker coach after Brian Smith walked away from the National Rugby League club mid-season.
Instead of talking about the journey that has helped him to the South Sydney coaching job next year, Taylor yesterday wanted the spotlight only on the Eels players who miraculously saved their season with nine consecutive wins.
"These players are the ones that have got us here
I just think that at this time of the year, there's been a bit of focus on myself because I only took over halfway but it's about the players and the team as a whole," Taylor said.
The Eels come into today's game against Melbourne as underdogs after losses against Brisbane and North Queensland and facing the history that an eighth-placed team has never beaten a top-ranked team in the first week of finals.
But Taylor said it would be a rejuvenated Eels team that runs onto Olympic Park today, putting the past two losses down to tiredness and a short turnaround between the games.
The Eels have had time to recover from their final-round game in Townsville, and the team has been bolstered by the inclusion of captain Nathan Cayless, who has recovered from an eye injury.
"The games that we played and the level that we had to play at to win the games that we did to make sure that we could get ourselves into the semi-finals probably got to a point where they took a bit of a toll on us that showed in the Brisbane game, even though we tried really hard in the game," Taylor said.
"We're disappointed about those games. It would have been nice to have won at least one of them, which would have meant we would have finished a bit higher up the table, but we're certainly confident we'll be a different team (today)."
The Parramatta players have declared they can succeed where others have failed.
The Storm has lost only one home game this season to blitz the minor premiership by eight points, but the Eels have won three of their six matches at Olympic Park, including a 26-14 win in their previous encounter at the ground last year.
"We've had some good memories down there," Cayless said.
"I remember last year, we played down there after we were flogged by Brisbane the week before and had a good win.
"It was probably our best win of the year.
"It's tough travelling in the NRL these days, with Melbourne losing only one game this season obviously makes it a bit tougher.
"But if you want to go anywhere in this competition, obviously you've got to beat the best teams and there's no better place to start than Melbourne.
"Obviously, they're a different team (to last year) but it just gives you a bit of confidence in the back of our minds that we can go down there and win.
