Instead, he will be playing five-eighth for Parramatta when they travel to Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. Norman was groomed as the long-term successor to the great Darren Lockyer but was shunted to fullback and then, in his last days at Red Hill, to the Queensland Cup. The man who stood in front of him at Brisbane, Scott Prince, subsequently retired and injuries have forced their fullback, Josh Hoffman, into the pivotal role.

But Norman is philosophical about the turn of events and has no regrets about his decision to join the wooden spooners.

"Against the old team, it's going to be in the back of my head," Norman said. "But we've just got to worry about the team, our job and what we've got to do up there. It will be [surreal] – I was there since I was 16 and left last year. I know the club real well and it's going to be weird but I'll just worry about Parra and my game."

Norman is expecting a hostile reception upon his return to Suncorp Stadium.

"I'll block all that out and just play my footy, I'm looking forward to getting up there," he said. "The boys will give me a bit of banter, I still talk to a lot of them frequently. There will be some banter on the field and the crowd will probably boo me."

Asked if he had anything to prove to his former club, he said: "Nah, not at all. I'll just play footy and try to get a win next week."

The Eels will travel north with momentum after a narrow loss to Manly and a strong win against Penrith in their local derby on Saturday night. Norman has played just the one NRL game with halves partner Chris Sandow but said he had adjusted to life in the harbour city well on and off the field.

"I'm enjoying Sydney and the boys down here, everyone has been welcoming," he said. "The traffic is pretty bad, I don't try to drive at peak hour times, but Sydney's not too bad. Not as bad as everyone says."

Jarryd Hayne got most of the raps after scoring a try and setting up two others against the Panthers. However, coach Brad Arthur also praised the performance of his "underrated" middle forwards and pointed to special efforts like the one that resulted in back-rower Manu Ma'u scoring in what was his third carry of the set.

"On the whole, our defence was strong but the thing that pleased me the most was our response to the second half," Arthur said. "We completed at 95 per cent. At the end of the day, our first halves we haven't been completing above 60 per cent. We need to look at that and get off to a better start."