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Parramatta star Mitchell Moses admits the Eels made it personal against the Wests Tigers in the opener at Bankwest Stadium.
Parramatta star Mitchell Moses has fired the latest shot in the NRL's turf war over Bankwest Stadium, declaring the new arena as their home ground.
The Eels christened their new digs with a 51-6 pasting of the Tigers on Monday, with Moses scoring a try and setting up three others.
And the five-eighth revealed the team were motivated by claims from his former club that they were tenants of the $330 million stadium as well.
The Tigers will host four games at Bankwest Stadium this season.
"The Tigers are trying to stay that it's their home ground. I think we took it pretty personal, to be honest," Moses said after the win.
"They've got four games here, yeah, yeah.
"But when they're versing (sic) us, it's not their home ground. We want to stake a claim there and show them that it's not their home ground."
It was a memorable occasion for the 24-year-old Moses, who grew up as a Parramatta fan but made his NRL debut with the Tigers in 2014.
He controversially joined the Eels midway through 2017.
"There was a fair bit of emotion. I only grew up around the corner. I used to come watch Parramatta all the time," Moses said.
A sellout crowd of 29,047 packed into Bankwest Stadium, with only the no-shows of ticketed members preventing the arena from reaching capacity.
Eels chief executive Bernie Gurr said the club was ecstatic with the "electric" atmosphere, but was unsure if the big crowds would continue.
"First year is going to be a bit of trial and error, just to see what we get, because you'll be playing in different timeslots against different opponents," he said.
"You might play a very strong opponent in a poor timeslot. You might play a weak opponent in a good timeslot.
"You've got all these different timeslots, so it's very volatile in predicting crowds.
"What I do know, is that those who came here today, they'd have enjoyed the experience. The atmosphere was off the charts. I thought it was terrific."
