Parramatta hooker Matthew Keating is feeling for his younger brother Kris who has missed out on the Eels' spectacular charge to the NRL preliminary finals through injury.

Matthew says Kris has been doing it tough at times and he's even suggested his parents avoid talking footy in front of him because he can see his sibling's personal disappointment.

Halfback Kris, 20, is recuperating from a broken jaw and has only been able to watch from sidelines as the Eels resurrected their wobbly season with nine victories from their last 10 games to be within two wins of the premiership crown.

He was a team regular before suffering his season-ending injury when floored in a heavy tackle in the round 10 loss to Manly at Brookvale Oval.

At that point Parramatta had been struggling and had only once strung two consecutive wins together.

Matthew Keating says the Eels' success has been hard on Kris because he desperately wishes he could play finals football.

"It is difficult, he's been pretty down and out sometimes," said 23-year-old Matthew.

"We're pretty close and I see (his disappointment), so I try not to talk about it too much in front of him or I try and tell mum and dad not to talk about footy in front of him because he does really want to be a part of it.

"If we win he sort of wishes that he was a part of it but he's got a few injuries and it just can't happen for him.

"He does get a little bit down. Who wouldn't be? But that's footy and that's what happens.

"He knows he's got next year and many more years I think to probably achieve something like this again."

Matthew said with or without newly-injured five-eighth Daniel Mortimer, he backed the Eels to come out on top against the Bulldogs in their preliminary final at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

"(Mortimer) only played 10 minutes on the weekend and we got through it," he said of the Eels 27-2 semi-finals victory over Gold Coast.

"Feleti can fill in or I can fill in there if I need to. We can get around it and we've got the players to do it.

"There'll definitely be disappointment for him (Mortimer) and our team, but like I said with my brother, that's footy, you can't help that."

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