Four-time Parramatta champion Ray Price insists the Eels will win the NRL grand final and will not be overawed by their 36-year premiership drought.
Price retired in 1986 after winning his fourth premiership in six years with the Eels.
He said he had been heartened by the current team's approach to the task at hand, as well as their form ahead of Sunday's decider against Penrith.
After the preliminary final win over North Queensland, Eels' co-captain Junior Paulo said his team had the mindset to be "hoodoo gurus" and etch their names into the history books as the players that ended 36 years of heartache.
His words were music to Price's ears.
"These players have the chance to put Parramatta back on the map and I believe they can," Price told AAP.
"It has been 36 years and I am sick of it. I don't want the pressure anymore. I just want to enjoy watching them play and win.
"Junior Paulo is exactly right in his approach. This is their chapter that they are writing - and that is the motivation they are using to win.
"I love Paulo. Isaiah Papali'i is great in the second-row. Lock (Ryan) Matterson is playing exceptionally well.
"We have the best forward pack and we have a half (Mitchell Moses) and five-eighth (Dylan Brown) who when they run the ball are as good as any.
"These blokes know where they have come from and where they are going. I believe in them. They will win because they will wear Penrith down."
Price, who has been invited by the Parramatta club to attend the decider, said the formula for success was simple.
"They have to play for 80 minutes and have their best game ever," he said. "There's no good keeping it for next year."
Eels legend Brett Kenny, who won four grand finals alongside Price, said the Parramatta v Penrith rivalry reminded him of the club's battles with Manly in the 1980s.
The Eels beat the Sea Eagles in the 1982 and 1983 deciders, with Kenny scoring two tries in each game.
"These days Penrith and Parramatta seem to have the same rivalry. It has always had that little brother v big brother feel to it in western Sydney," Kenny told AAP.
"When I was at Parramatta we were 'big brother' but that changed when Penrith got on top and played finals football in the 1990s.
"Some people would say they are still big brother. Lately they've had some great games and it has been very competitive, a lot like the Manly-Parramatta games in the early 1980s.
"It would be great for the Parramatta district and their supporters all over the country to have their team win again after 36 years.
"They have waited a long time."
