His game might have been affected by a knock to the hip midway through the contest, but Eels halfback Mitch Moses showed enough in the first half to suggest he can take his team far after Parramatta proved too strong for the Rabbitohs with a 22-16 win at ANZ Stadium.
It was a far cry from the performance he put in a fortnight ago against the same opposition in what ended up being his last game for the Wests Tigers as Moses set up an early try before he dictated terms with his trusty right boot.
There were positive signs in his first game in the famous blue and gold jersey against the Raiders last week and he picked up from where he left off with another strong showing on Friday night.
Like any mid-season transfer, the toughest part will be gelling with his new teammates on the right edge, but according to Eels coach Brad Arthur time isn't their friend with only 12 matches remaining before the finals.
"We don't have time, but he's going to need a bit of time to get better," Arthur said after the game.
"It's not only him; it's about our boys getting used to what his strengths are and how he likes to play and his timing because he plays very fast into the line so we've got to get up a touch flatter on him.
"I thought his kicking game was very good – there was a big improvement from last week – although his long-kicking game last week was excellent.
"There was a bit of a mentality to work over a few defenders and then play with the eyes up, and Mitch just responded to what the defence was doing and put himself into a position [to attack]. You could see that a lot of our boys weren't used to it so a lot of times we were in front of him on a pass or a kick."
Moses wasn't the only Eel to cause headaches for South Sydney's defence with halves partner Clint Gutherson laying on two tries in the first half.
It remains unclear where the talented utility will end up when injured playmaker Corey Norman returns, but it's clear Gutherson must start somewhere in Parramatta's highly-skilled backline.
"We'll worry about that when Normy comes back," Arthur replied when asked about his playmaking conundrum.
"'Gutho' is a footballer and we know exactly what we're going to get from him each week.
"He went back to fullback [for a few weeks] and he was really good there and then we moved him to five-eighth and it's a different game and we probably tried to play too much of the role of a five-eighth instead of playing his game."
