After sifting through the wreckage of his team's embarrassing loss to the Bulldogs, Mitch Moses has vowed to never again take an opponent lightly regardless of their ladder position or to be so casual putting the ball down for a try.
Having been beaten twice this season by the team running last at the time - Wests Tigers in round six and Canterbury in round 14 - the Eels stand accused clocking off against sides they are expected to beat easily.
Moses can understand the criticism and admits they may have headed into those games "thinking it's going to come easy".
Making those slip-ups even harder to comprehend is the fact that Parramatta are the only team to have beaten the top two sides Penrith and Melbourne in 2022 so they clearly have what it takes to be a contender.
Adding salt on the wound for Moses on Monday was the late try he butchered when Matt Burton knocked the ball from his grasp as he was about to put it down.
"I don’t think I’ve ever put the ball down like that in my career so I won’t be doing that again," Moses said on Thursday.
Burton saving tries even at the death
"The old man always used to tell me ‘two hands for starters’ and that’s definitely me so you won't see that again.
"I've learned a lesson and so has the team and now it's about coming together as a team and not trying to do individual stuff.
"When we play the top teams we do it as a team, when we play sides we are expected to beat everyone is trying to do their own thing.
"If we can build some patience at the start of the game and get in a groove then we are normally OK but against the Dogs we were chasing points too early."
It’s about what we do next that will determine who we are
Reed Mahoney
The Eels get a shot at redemption on Saturday night when they host the Roosters, another premiership contender looking to rebound after a loss in Round 14.
When they clashed five weeks ago in Magic Round it was the Roosters who prevailed 31-24 but hooker Reed Mahoney believes the Eels have what it takes to reverse that result.
"It’s about what we do next that will determine who we are," Mahoney said.
"We need to treat every team with respect and go out there and play like they are on top of the table.
"The Roosters got away from us up at Suncorp we know we have to start fast against them and do our team things and actions and the rest will come.
Quick fix: Bulldogs v Eels
"We were very impatient with the ball [against the Bulldogs] and they were good enough to capitalise on it.
"We’ve talked about it, we’ve put it away now and we’ve moved on pretty quickly."
And that suits Mitch Moses just fine.