Arthur ready to hand Dylan Brown his NRL debut

Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has declared teenage playmaker Dylan Brown ready to go for the opening round one clash against Penrith after a solid performance in the Eels' 20-0 win at Panthers Stadium on Saturday night.

The Eels ran in four tries to shut out their western Sydney rival, giving them a slight psychological advantage ahead of the season opener in a fortnight.

Brown backed up a solid game against the Raiders in late February to combine well with Mitchell Moses in the halves and give Arthur enough confidence to hand the 18-year-old an NRL debut on March 17.

"It was always going to be around the physicality and I thought he handled himself OK," Arthur said.

"But round one is going to go to a whole new level. We stuck to the plan and we were disciplined and patient so that's what it's going to take early in the piece.

"If we do that and spend a bit of time with the ball we'll give ourselves time to find a bit of rhythm."

In the only major injury concern for the Eels, luckless forward Manu Ma'u limped from the field in the second half with a knee problem.

George Jennings (knee) and Stefano Utoikamanu (ankle) were also casualties out of the game.

"We've got a couple of injuries that I don't know about which is not good," Arthur said.

"I don't think George is too bad, probably Manu is the main one. It's his knee. I don't know what's going on."

Arthur was hopeful Junior Paulo, who was a late withdrawal from the clash with a minor hamstring strain, would be available for round one.

He said the club continued to monitor the No.9 situation following Kaysa Pritchard's decision to take leave away from the game earlier in the week.

"Sharpy (recruitment manager Peter Sharp) is all over it, our main priority is to make sure Kaysa is OK, that's what's important for us," Arthur said.

"Everyone's giving him his space but the club's right across his welfare.

"Reed Mahoney got out 60 minutes and I thought he was looking OK. We just need to try and get Will Smith some game time in the middle but I could've probably left Reedy there if I had to."

Warriors rake Issac Luke had been linked with a move to the club in recent weeks but NRL.com reported on Thursday the former Kiwi international was remaining in New Zealand.