Parramatta will aim to keep their perfect record at Pirtek Stadium intact when they host North Queensland on Friday night.
While the Eels did lose a "home" game against the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium back late April, they remain undefeated at Parramatta in five games so far in 2014.
In fact, Brad Arthur's side holds a 160-68 advantage when playing in the comforts of their own home, compared to a 197-93 deficit in the six games they've been on the road.
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It's no wonder the club announced this week that, to the delight of its players, it declined a request to move their Round 19 clash against South Sydney to Homebush.
"I think it'd be good here. The crowd's going off at the moment when we play here. It's been helping us, obviously. I think it'll be really good if it's held here," said five-eighth Corey Norman.
"The fans, you can hear them. They're a lot closer to the field and there's not all that empty space up top."
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— Parramatta Eels (@TheParraEels) June 5, 2014After three straight seasons of losing records at home, forward Joseph Paulo said the team had finally created a winning culture in front of their loyal fans.
"There's nothing like playing at home. We've really created a winning culture here. We're happy that they're keeping the game here at Pirtek Stadium and we just hope the fans can still turn up for that Round 19 match," he said.
"We had a great crowd against the Tigers, but just the feeling we get here, coming home in front of your own fans and just what they create in a sense of atmosphere and the way they can bring us home late in games, it really makes a difference to us. We can really hear it on the field and just really encourages us to really come home hard."
After last week's blowout in Penrith, Paulo said his teammates were keen to bounce back against the Cowboys and keep their unbeaten run at home alive.
"It's something that we try to maintain. We really speak highly of playing at home in front of our fans and we know what it means to them and we want to show what it means to us too. It's good to have that winning culture and hopefully we can continue that this week," he said.
Norman said the side was also looking forward to repay the visitors for a 42-14 shellacking they copped in Townsville back in Round 9.
"They did touch us up at their home ground. It'd be good to touch them up here. I think we just need to prepare like it's another game and not worry about what's happened in the past and just worry about us," he said.
