Ding, dong, could the witch be dead?

It’s been 34 long seasons since Parramatta last won a premiership in 1986.

So have the Eels now got the roster to legitimately challenge for the NRL title?

As Parramatta prepares to open the 2020 NRL season by hosting arch-rivals Canterbury-Bankstown at BankWest Stadium next Thursday, Eels captain Clint Gutherson has given the legion of blue and gold faithful a reason to believe.

Round 19

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Asked can the Eels end the NRL’s longest premiership drought, Gutherson told Fox League: “I think so. We’ve added a few big names there this year with RCG (Reagan Campbell-Gillard) and Matto (Ryan Matterson) coming in.

“Otherwise it’s the majority of the same squad, so it’s exciting.

“We fell a couple of games short last year, hopefully we can go a couple longer and get into (the grand final) and hopefully win it.

“But look there’s so much time to go before then and it’s a long process.

“You’ve just got to keep it going week by week and just keep ticking the wins over.”

The Eels’ first assignment for the new season will come against arch-rivals the Bulldogs on Thursday March 12.

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What better way to open the new season than by pitting Parramatta against the Bulldogs, the two teams who loved to hate one another in the 1980s.

The “Dogs of War” won the 1984 grand final 6-4 under coach Warren Ryan before the Eels collected the club’s fourth premiership in 1986 with a 4-2 win.

Eels skipper Gutherson stressed the club was not getting ahead of itself and was mindful of the last time they were talked up as potential premiers.

Clint Gutherson fends off Tristan Sailor during the NRL Nines in Perth. Source: Getty Images

That was in 2018. After finishing fourth the year earlier, the Eels ended up collecting the wooden spoon.

“We were here in 2018 and it went totally a different way. We’d like to think we’ve learned from that,” Gutherson said.

“It comes with the game expectation. We have to be strong enough mentally and physically to get through the games and win them.

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“We need to be able to push that to the side and keep going about our business.”

Gutherson said new recruits Campbell-Gillard and Matterson provided balance to the Parramatta pack.

“They add a bit more experience. They’re both only young but Matto’s won a comp and been in and around Origin,” Gutherson said.

“And Reagan’s played for NSW and Australia, so they’re two big, solid personalities in our pack.

“That will help Junior (Paulo), Laney (Shaun Lane), will definitely help Reed (Mahoney).”

Gutherson said the calming influence of the Eighth Immortal Andrew Johns working with Parramatta’s key position players had also provided a huge competitive edge.

When the Eels won the club’s first premiership under Jack Gibson in 1981, the original supercoach produced one of his great one-liners.

“Ding, dong the witch is dead”.

In 2020, Parramatta will be aiming to try and end the NRL’s longest title drought.

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