Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran believes the Sea Eagles will have to alter their game plan on Friday, given how well Eels coach Brad Arthur knows their players and game plans.
Arthur was Geoff Toovey's assistant last year and with his inside knowledge of Manly Parramatta almost sprang an upset against the competition frontrunners at Brookvale Oval back in round three.
However, several contentious refereeing decisions cost the Eels as Manly snatched a late 22-18 victory, but Foran knows just how big of an impact Arthur's knowledge of the Sea Eagles will have when the two teams clash at Pirtek Stadium.
"It's a big task against them," Foran said.
"[Brad] knows a lot of our games very well so he'll know what he is coming up against. We will have to adapt things a bit differently this Friday night. I know that Brad enjoyed his time here, he learnt a lot from the playing group here. Maybe he has tried to take a bit of what he got out of here over there."
Most would agree that Arthur has over-achieved with the team he took over from Ricky Stuart at the start of the season.
He has developed a crop of juniors into regular first-graders, and hasn't been afraid to make the tough decisions in an attempt to avoid three consecutive wooden spoons.
The Eels are well in the hunt for finals football, but Arthur's old club can destroy those ambitions.
"I've got a massive wrap on Brad Arthur," Foran said.
"I have said that before, he is a great coach. He was held in high regard when he was here. I think everyone else has now seen what he has been able to do with the Parramatta side this year.
"Brad has a very good work ethic. He was always one of the earliest here and the last to leave, like all the coaches here. They all have work ethics. His attention to detail was what impressed me the most. He always pulled up things in people's game that he thought wasn't quite right."
Manly prop Josh Starling has spoken out for the first time since he was accused of eye-gouging former South Sydney teammate David Tyrrell in the round 22 clash at the SCG.
Starling was charged with unnecessary dangerous contact but escaped suspension with an early guilty plea.
But he insists he did not intentionally try to eye-gouge his close friend, and hopes his reputation has not been tarnished by the charge.
"People probably do think that [it was intentional]," he said.
"It doesn't matter, you've just got to move on. There was backlash on Twitter, people giving it to me. You can't pay too much attention to that. If you do that, then it would have been a pretty sad couple of weeks. I sort of laughed because I didn't think anything would come about but then it got a bit more serious and then I had to try and justify myself I guess.
"If I had got him, he would have grabbed his eye. None of that ever happened. The footage shows it was nothing. I couldn't do too much about it.
"[Toovey] told me not to get myself in that position any more. It's not the '80s or '90s any more. 'Tooves' told me not to get too down about it."
Starling said he and Tyrrell remained close friends and the pair have shared a joke over the incident.
"I am good mates with Dave Tyrrell and he knows there was nothing in it," Starling said.
"I had dinner with him last night and caught up with a few of the boys. He just laughs at it. He wanted to get a picture of me and him about to have a fight in the street. I talked him out of it."
