Anderson was disappointed with Parramatta's first hour of football against Canberra on Saturday night, but delighted with the final 20 minutes as they overcame a 16-4 deficit to win 18-16.

The new coach admits his side remains very much a work in progress, but he is happy with its development after just three NRL games.

''We have a points differential of zero, and four points after three games you take that,'' Anderson said. ''You accumulate points how you get them at the start.''

Anderson said the Eels were well-placed to make a charge during the next month with tough games against fierce rivals the Roosters (away), Dragons (home), Bulldogs (home) and Broncos (away).

''We will go into next week's game confident we can win the game,'' he said. ''... I'm going to pick pretty much the same squad with Weller Hauraki back from suspension.''

Anderson's biggest task in 2009 is honing the individual talent in his squad into a well-drilled side.

He heaped praise on lock Feleti Mateo who has shelved his free-flowing offloading game somewhat this year to do more tough work in the middle of the ground.

Against the Raiders Mateo made 42 tackles, and had 10 hit ups for 118m, while offloading just twice.

''Feleti played a very very tight and powerful role in the middle of the field where he hasn't had the luxury of getting many off-loads but he is sticking to a team task,'' Anderson said.

''That is what I want to see from all of our players, that they stick to the team task and deliver for the team and their teammates.'' AAP