Parramatta playmaker Mitchell Moses says his team are in better shape heading into the NRL season than last year, driven by their early NRL finals exit last year.
The Eels had high hopes of ending the longest-running premiership drought in Australian rugby league history - stretching back to 1986 - but that came unstuck in the semi-finals when they suffered a two-point loss to eventual premiers Penrith.
It was the second straight year their season ended at that point.
The 27-year-old, who was sidelined for a month mid-season with a back fracture suffered in Origin III, says the Eels are determined to make more of their opportunities in 2022.
"It's driven everyone," Moses said on Monday.
"We were pretty filthy with how we finished last year and it's driven everyone to come back even fitter than what we were last year.
"Everyone is doing extras and all those types of things to get better because we want to go further than we did last year.
"It's no secret we haven't won for a while now."
The Eels stunned the Panthers in their final NRL trial a week ago with Moses a key contributor in the 36-0 romp.
He looked to have taken his halves combination with Dylan Brown to another level.
Moses isn't getting carried away with the scoreline, noting that Penrith were undermanned, but he was still pleased they kept their opponents scoreless.
"We really wanted to go in there with the mindset to really work for each other and defend for each other," Moses said.
"And we did that pretty well and we were pretty good with the ball as well.
"We will take a bit of confidence and they had a lot of players out so doesn't really mean much.
"We feel like our combinations have got even better so we will take confidence going into the season."
They open their season on Sunday against Gold Coast at CommBank Stadium and will look to repeat last year's blistering start to the year.
The Eels won nine of their first 10 matches, before mounting injuries and a run of poor form saw them drop six of their last nine to finish in sixth.
