NRL 2024: Parramatta Eels win 27-20 over North Queensland Cowboys

They were far from perfect, but the Parramatta Eels remain in touch with the top-eight, as the Sydney curse continues to haunt the Cowboys.

NRL Round 6 2024: Eels vs Cowboys. Picture: NRL Imagery

Wins without Mitchell Moses are like gold for Parramatta at the moment and they stayed in touch with the top eight on Saturday night with a 27-20 victory over a poor Cowboys outfit at CommBank Stadium.

The Cowboys looked far better than the home side early as Scott Drinkwater, in his 100th game, caused all sorts of headaches for the Eels defence.

Drinkwater had a couple of early try assists as the Eels had no answers.

But, when down 10-6, the introduction of Junior Paulo off the bench changed things and he, along with front-row partner Regan Campbell-Gillard, got control of the middle.

Both ran for more than 125m and it took the edge off the Cowboys who looked tired a long way out.

Front rowers don’t often get praise as match winners but the influence of Paulo and Campbell-Gillard wasn’t lost on coach Brad Arthur.

NRL Round 6 2024: Eels vs Cowboys. Picture: NRL Imagery

“They just work non-stop for us,” Arthur said.

“Reg just keeps getting the job for us and I told Junior on about five occasions that I was going to get him off but I gave him another message that he has to stay out there for me and they just keep doing it.

“All the middles were very good.”

While the Cowboys were lacking energy in the second half, Eels captain Clint Gutherson was full of it.

He sent Daejarn Asi over in the 61st minute and despite the time left on the clock it looked like a winning 12-point lead.

A Drinkwater try in the 70th minute sent a scare through the Eels group but they comfortably held on in what wasn’t a high-quality game.

Both sides were lucky they weren’t playing Penrith or Brisbane because it wouldn’t have been pretty.

Parramatta only completed at 68 per cent.

But Arthur knows how valuable the two points was and if the Eels can win half their games while Moses is out it would be considered a success and would give them a chance of playing finals football.

“He’ll help when he comes back,” Arthur said.

Joe Ofahengaue of the Eels scores a try during the round six NRL match between Parramatta Eels and North Queensland Cowboys. Picture: Getty Images

The coach also said the performance put to bed critics of the Eels and their desire after last week’s thrashing at the hands of Canberra.

“I thought we were pretty courageous and it just shows that the boys do care,” he said.

“The effort was there and there was a real desire and real want. We’ve just got to try and find that every week.”

“We started jittery but we kept fighting and showed we wanted it.

“They’ve scored the most points in the comp and defence has been a bit of an issue for us but we scrambled really well.”

Arthur said post-game that he wasn’t listening to talk about his job being under pressure.

The shadow of Wayne Bennett will loom over any coach who is struggling, given the seven-time premiership winner is looking for a new head coaching job next year.

“I’m not worried about me,” Arthur said.

“I’m worried about the team and the club and that we go out there and try and be at our best every week.”

POOR IN SYDNEY

When will the Cowboys, as a club, get their act together when they come to Sydney?

They’ve never been great when travelling south into NSW – even in the Johnathan Thurston era.

On Saturday, they were nowhere near the team they are at home and it’s a huge problem for coach Todd Payten.

They continuously shot themselves in the foot and let the Eels off the hook with silly errors and penalties.

Premierships are won in Sydney, not North Queensland.

The Cowboys poor record in Sydney continues to haunt them. Picture: Getty Images

“If you want to play finals you’ve got to win away from home,” Payten said.

“We need to get our stuff together.”

Payten was confident his team could be one of the best in the competition if it does the unfashionable things well.

“We’ve got so much improvement left in us,” he said.

“We’ve got so many attacking weapons that sometimes we want to use that too often.

“We just need to scrap a bit harder in the tough parts of the game which is what the really good teams do. Once we get that right, look out.”

At least Valentine Holmes ended his Parramatta try-scoring hoodoo in the second half when he crashed over in the 50th minute.

Prior to yesterday, the Eels were the only side Holmes hadn’t scored against.

WHERE’S THE FANS

Only 14,433 turned up to watch Parramatta do battle with the Cowboys on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

That’s a really poor crowd for such a big club.

Did some fans give up on their team without Mitchell Moses?

After yesterday’s performance, more should come out of the woodwork for the next home game.

Originally published as NRL 2024: Parramatta Eels win 27-20 over North Queensland Cowboys