Feleti Mateo is relishing his role as the ace up coach Daniel Anderson's sleeve in Parramatta's seemingly unstoppable charge to an NRL finals berth.
Mateo has become the Eels' X-factor in their late season surge the back-rower/five-eighth returning from a long-term bicep injury in last week's win over Wests Tigers.
The Tongan international feared he would struggle to break back into the red-hot Eels side after going down in the team's round 10 loss to Manly.
The finals seemed a long-way off for the Eels at that point, but Mateo said he was ready to make an impact with Parramatta which is only out of the top eight on points differential with two games to go.
The team it trails on for and against is Penrith tonight's opponent at Parramatta Stadium.
Anderson said he would try to get the ball-playing utility more time against Penrith as he looks to add to an already impressive attacking arsenal featuring the red-hot Jarryd Hayne, Krisnan Inu and boome rookie Daniel Mortimer.
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