Kieran Foran's new life at Parramatta has gotten off to a winning start, with a grinding 22-8 NRL trial victory over Penrith.
The star recruit was quiet in his club debut on Saturday night, largely servicing his flanks before bowing out with fellow big-name signing Michael Jennings at the hour mark.
All eyes at Pepper Stadium were on the former Manly playmaker, but halves partner Corey Norman was the one who shone, playing a hand in two of the Eels' four tries, including Jennings' first in Eels colours.
Parramatta forwards Tepai Moeroa and Manu Ma'u joined Norman as standouts for coach Brad Arthur, while a streamlined Waqa Blake was Penrith's best.
Panthers skipper Matt Moylan punched out an entire night's shift for the first time since returning from a major ankle injury, while new buy Trent Merrin lasted an hour in his first outing for the club.
In wet conditions at the foot of the mountains, a crowd of 5,580 watched two rusty outfits suffer ill-discipline, mostly at the ruck and with their hands.
Up 12-8 at the break, a defensively sound Eels side shut out their opposition in the second half, with Norman setting up Clinton Gutherson and Junior Paulo crashing over late.
In the first half, a busy Moeroa was rewarded for his early grunt work with a try from close range, to which the Panthers' Josh Mansour replied with signature dive in the corner.
Blake and Jennings also traded four-pointers. The reliable boots of Michael Gordon were the difference when the Eels went into the sheds with a four-point lead.
Panthers utility Isaah Yeo was put on report for a first-half crusher tackle on Tim Mannah.
Arthur was most pleased with his side's defence, which was tested in heavy portions due to excessive penalties in the ruck.
"I thought the defence mentality was good. It's something that we've worked hard on through the pre-season. I thought physically we were okay too," he said.
"There was a lot of penalties. It's hard to see what they were all for. A lot of them were in the play-the-ball area so we'll have to have a look at that and see what we can do better."
Panthers coach Anthony Griffin was also happy with his team's effort without the ball, save for some misreads by his flankmen, but was left to rue a disjointed attack.
"Defensively, I was really happy. We made a few errors on the edge but we were forced to do a lot of defence and they kept turning up," he said.
"We've obviously still got some work to do, but I just thought in general we kept coming at the game defensively.
"We were very loose in attack with our control, so it's a big area for us to work on. We'll get there."
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