Parramatta star Kieran Foran has revealed a re-occurring hamstring injury has hampered his preparations for the new NRL season.
The new Eels skipper had a quiet club debut in Saturday's trial win over Penrith, largely deferring to his teammates before bowing out on the hour-mark.
The 25-year-old later explained that his scratchy showing was due to a troubled summer.
"Myself, I've been in and out of training with a hamstring injury so I haven't been training with the boys at all apart from this week," he said.
"In terms of the side that went out there (on Saturday), we've had limited time to prepare and it probably looked like that."
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Foran battled the same hamstring issue at different stages of his final season with Manly in 2015, but stressed it was unlikely to keep him from leading the team out in round one.
"I'm on top of everything. The body's feeling really good so fingers crossed I can have an injury-free year," he said.
Halves partner and Auckland Nines hero Corey Norman continued his scintillating start to the year, setting up two of his sides four tries against the Panthers.
But as for linking with Foran, the former Manly five-eighth said the combination needed time to gel.
"We give ourselves two weeks now leading into round one, clicking and combinations gelling, but it'll take time," he said.
"There's a lot of new players here. As long as our attitude's right now and our defensive effort's there we'll be happy."
The Eels open the NRL season against Brisbane on March 3.
