While a looming date against the reigning premiers will always have players, coaches and supporters on red alert, Parramatta is reportedly fighting a secondary foe ahead of Friday night's fixture against Penrith with a litany of Eels' starters struck down with the flu.
And with the River Suburb side entering their Round 9 clash off the back of a dismal 35-4 loss against the Cowboys last weekend, the blows appear to be raining down on the drought-stricken side.
As first reported by News Corp journalist Dave Riccio on Friday morning, as many as "five or six" options on Brad Arthur's roster have been hit with a fever.
“You’ll find that this is sweeping through a lot of clubs at this point in time and it’s the flu,” Riccio told SEN1170 listeners.
“We heard that the flu season has officially hit, and it’s hit a number of clubs.
“The Eels had five or six players unavailable to train at the beginning of this week. That’s not an ideal preparation for such a significant match tonight.”
The vaunted scribe went on to state that it was flu season for a number of other clubs, revealing that white-hot Shark Siosifa Talakai was well below his best ahead of his one-on-one Blues jersey battle with Bronco Kotoni Staggs in Round 8.
“Believe it or not, it was billed as the Siosifa Talakai v Kotoni Staggs duel, Talakai was almost bed-ridden going into that game, it hasn’t made many headlines but I can tell you it’s the case," Riccio added.
Though almost certain to be facing a weakened Eels outfit at BlueBet Stadium, Penrith has not been spared by the contagious disease either, with Scott Sorensen ruled out with a "non-COVID related illness".
The nephew of Kiwi greats Kurt and Dane Sorensen has been replaced by Matt Eisenhuth in Ivan Cleary's squad.
Kick-off in the battle of the west is scheduled for 7:55pm (AEST).
