Parramatta coach Ricky Stuart says he won't be rushing to bring in new players to Eels Parramatta coach Ricky Stuart says getting the Eels competitive again will be a long-term process. EELS coach Ricky Stuart will resist the urge to rush outside recruits into his struggling side in a strategy to maximise salary cap space for future years. As rival clubs Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra comb the market for mid-season transfers, Parramatta are determined to soldier on with their current roster. Although the 50-point thrashing to the Roosters highlighted numerous shortcomings, such as a lack of size up front and playmaking options, Stuart doesn't want to erode his long-term spending power with "quick fix" buys. "You look at the market every day to see what's around, but if we go for the quick fix this year we're going to be in the same position in four or five years' time," he said. I'm not patient by nature, but I have to be in this situation. I really feel sorry for our supporters - I love their passion and emotion. But at the moment I have to think about the team and what it's going to look like in four or five years' time. As illustrated by their pursuit of Israel Folau late last year, the Eels have enough space under this year's salary cap to buy up reinforcements. But - just as the Roosters did with James Maloney's deal - they have decided to use that space to front-load contracts for coming years, thus generating more buying power for 2014 and beyond. Parramatta went hard for Cowboys pair James Tamou and Matt Scott, and only missed out on Raiders back-rower Josh Papalii because of an 11th-hour backflip. But forcing the Raiders to pay big money for Papalii could still reap a return, with Canberra now facing the challenge of keeping fellow back-rower Joel Thompson. Parramatta also have a number of players off contract including Jacob Loko, Ryan Morgan, Ben Roberts, Willie Tonga, Mitchell Allgood, and Matt Keating, putting the club in line for a potential clean-out. It's understood extension talks have been put on hold while the team battles to regain confidence. "We've got to fix this mess we are in and there's going to be some heartache along the way," Stuart said. We are targeting the correct players.