Parramatta's big men have brushed aside a critique from club great Peter Sterling that the blue and golds are in need of a quality front-rower.
Despite Sterling's veiled criticism of last year's signing of Jarryd Hayne, Eels middle men Nathan Brown and Daniel Alvaro said they had the pack to match the best in the NRL.
After Hayne's return to Sydney's west was secured, Sterling said he believed the cross-code star's reported $500,000 salary would have been better spent securing another representative-level prop.
"If you have that money to spend, we probably need another class front-rower to bolster that position," Sterling said at the time.
It led coach Brad Arthur to defend his front-row rotation, which this year had added Kane Evans.
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"I don't really read too much media. But I'm really confident in what we've got here," Alvaro said when asked whether the Eels' front row was lacking.
Alvaro said he was buoyed in the confidence in him shown by Arthur and it had shown in his football.
"It's just the culture he's formed here," Alvaro said.
"Just how he can get everyone to buy in all the time, he gets everyone wanting to work hard.
"I think everyone finds it easy to buy in."
Brown enjoyed a breakout 2017 under Arthur after his defection from South Sydney.
He shrugged off his unsavoury reputation and made the sixth-most metres of any forward in the competition - behind Jason Taumalolo, Paul Gallen, Scott Bolton, Josh McGuire and Martin Taupau.
"The first time I met him, I said to my manager 'this is the club I'd like to be at'. Luckily enough, I fitted in well. He's really helped me enjoy my footy," Brown said of Arthur.
"He's very protective of his players and that's what we love about him. He puts all the trust in us and we trust him."
