El Burt's magic has Eels kicking along

The Bulldogs have El Magic, but Parramatta fans might soon take to chanting El Burt.
Eels fullback Luke Burt has booted an astonishing 51 goals from 59 attempts in 2007 to be the NRL's leading goalkicker and pointscorer.

His 86 per cent success rate is equal with the Dogs' Hazem El Masri, the man many regard as the league's greatest-ever goalkicker.

Burt puts his form down to thinking less, and three men - former coach Jason Taylor, legendary boot whisperer Daryl Halligan and El Masri.

"I've watched his kicking," Burt said of the Bulldogs winger.

"I don't know actually what he's thinking or anything behind it.

"He's got a pretty different style to mine but, geez, it's a bloody good one for that many years."

Current South Sydney mentor Taylor spent several years at the Eels as an assistant and head coach, while Halligan has been working with the Eels' kickers this year.

Respectively, they're the second-highest and third-highest point-getters in the league's history behind Newcastle great Andrew Johns.

"A lot of the base is off JT (Taylor) but Daryl's given me a few extra things just to top it off," Burt said of the 10 sessions he's had with the former New Zealand international.

"(Halligan's focus is) probably not thinking too much, knowing what I need to do and just being confident in myself with going out and doing it and it's been paying off."

Burt changed his approach mid-season last year and hasn't changed a lot since.

"I was getting back and I was taking too long and thinking about too many things over the ball," he said.

"I made a base from last year and just kept practising and didn't have to change too much this year, so I've had a long period of the same sort of style."

The Eels sharp-shooter's boot could come in handy during Sunday's clash with St George Illawarra at Parramatta Stadium - when the sides fought out an arm-wrestle in the wet last year, and the scoreline read 2-1 until the final minutes.

The sixth-placed Eels will go in favourites against the 15th-placed Dragons and have a 5-1 home record in 2007.

Prop Josh Cordoba, who was concussed in last week's 38-10 loss to Canberra, trained with the side on Saturday and is expected to play.

The Dragons face another week minus most of their stars but they do get centre Matt Cooper back from NSW State of Origin duty.