Parramatta captain Kieran Foran admits he's a "week to week" proposition as he continues to manage his troublesome hamstring through the early stages of the NRL season.
The former Manly star made his first appearance in Eels colours with a solid performance in their 20-16 upset of defending premiers North Queensland, playing a hand in two of their three tries.
The high-profile signing didn't take a run until the hour-mark, but finished the match strongly with a handful of important carries as the Cowboys attempted a late comeback.
And while he said the hamstring didn't feel "too bad" post-game, he was cautiously optimistic of backing up in next week's clash against Canterbury.
"I'm just monitoring my loads at the moment and just trying to get through week to week. But we're pretty confident that I'll be close to 100 per cent for next week's game," he said.
Eels coach Brad Arthur praised Foran's trademark toughness against the competition heavyweights and was critical in helping halves partner Corey Norman manage the game.
However he admitted that a disrupted pre-season meant there was a lack of cohesion with the ball.
"(Michael Jennings) got there three weeks into January and `Foz', we've just been managing his load with training, so we haven't done a lot with our attack and I reckon that was pretty evident tonight," Arthur said.
The Kiwi international was delighted with his team's defence, which was the cornerstone of Manly's dominance under former coach Geoff Toovey in recent years.
Their attack, however, has been dented by limited time on the training paddock.
"The pleasing thing as a team, was that we went out there and set the tone with our defence early on, (and) we carried it on the full 80," Foran said.
"That's what you win games off, the back of your defence.
"Our attack can build. Obviously it'll take time to build combinations there, but I thought our defence all night frustrated them and I thought we were really positive in our defence.
Foran said it would take some time to build the combinations.
"I have missed a lot of training. That's something that we'll work hard on in the coming weeks," he said.
"Our attack will take time. But the pleasing thing was that we defended well for the full 80 and if you can do that, you're going to start staying in the contest for most games."
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