POWERHOUSE Parramatta forward Kenny Edwards summed up the players’ mood best on a truly horrible morning out west.

“I wouldn’t want to be another team playing us in the next few weeks,’’ Edwards told The Daily Telegraph.

“We’re not bitter, we’re sweet. Nothing will break us, brah.

Parramatta's Kenny Edwards says the Eels will fight on. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

“We knew what was coming, now there’s nothing we can do. It’s out of our hands, and all we will do is work our arses off to get to where we need to be.’’

Asked if the Eels could still make the finals, even though the club would not require a miracle 12 wins from their remaining 15 games, Edwards said: “Bloody oath.’’

NRL boss Todd Greenberg arrived at Eels HQ just after 8am to inform the players the worst possible news.

Eels insiders were expecting to be stripped between four and eight points. Secretly they were backing themselves to still reach September if they were slugged the latter, but knew life would be tough if it reached 10 points.

There was silence when Greenberg told them it was 12.

The deduction of competition points was the only penalty that mattered to the players, including Nathan Peats and Clint Gutherson, who had briefly left City camp to learn Parramatta’s fate.

Eels players emerge from a meeting where they were told of salary cap punishment. Picture. Phil Hillyard Source: News Limited

Greenberg entered a demountable block at 8.48am and reappeared 22 minutes later.

Not long after Greenberg had departed to inform the rest of the rugby league world about the Eels’ penalties, several players became frustrated and asked Arthur how on earth Parramatta’s problems had been allowed to fester for so long.

Arthur quickly laid out the scenario. He told them 12 wins from 15 games would still allow them to play finals football.

Skipper Tim Mannah told The Daily Telegraph everybody was still coming to grips with the news, and would process it by Sunday when they returned for training.

Another player, Tepai Moeroa, spoke of the unbreakable bond that would work in Parramatta’s favour.

“We just have to stick solid. The season is never over,’’ Moeroa said.

“It will definitely make the boys closer.’’

Eels players gathered yesterday afternoon following news of the punishment from the NRL. Source: Twitter

The planned training session was quickly canned.

As the players were chased by a large media scrum, a bus carrying the New Zealand Test team arrived for training.

Eels pair Manu Ma’u and Brad Takairangi, who had been called into the Kiwis’ squad late Monday, trained less than 200m away on an adjoining field without any knowledge of the fallout in clubland.

The first Takairangi knew about the points loss was when told by The Daily Telegraph after training.

“Is that what it is? I haven’t heard anything,’’ Takairangi said.

Arthur later appeared to break the news to Ma’u and Takairangi.

Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney was no stranger to western Sydney club after a short and forgettable stint in charge, but preferred not to comment on the latest drama.

Arthur, like he has done throughout the whole messy salary cap drama, fronted the press while the board members were nowhere to be seen.

Like Edwards, Arthur was prepared to roll up the sleeves and give it everything.

“We’ve got 15 games left, we need to win 12, we’ve won 68 per cent of our games at the moment, and we need to win 80 per cent of our (remaining) games. It’s going to be tough, but we’re prepare for the fight,’’ Arthur said.

“The start of the year we wanted to play finals’ football. Nothing has changed. We’re really committed to trying to do our best and make sure that can still happen after 26 rounds.’’

Arthur said he felt “sick in the guts’’ when Greenberg revealed the club’s 12-point deduction. But he liked the fact his players remained “defiant’’ and had already played through adversity the past six weeks.

“The Bulldogs’ game was the latest indication of that, there were plenty of excuses to roll over and we didn’t,’’ Arthur said.

You’d hate to play Parramatta in the coming weeks.