We are finally entering the closing stages of a long, often difficult season, with only two home games remaining. This is definitely the more winnable of those two, with the North Queensland Cowboys coming to town with a finals spot to play for and a history of that kind of thing not mattering at all to their performance.
The Eels are at least giving us plenty to talk about, whether it is crazy performances like last weekend, team selections or front office shakeups. At least it is better than interminable discourse about player signings (and the lack thereof). This has felt like a long week, and I for one will be glad to see a few footies kicked in anger.
Can the Eels send us home with a smile? Good luck predicting that. Let’s just talk about the teams a bit, throw all the cards up in the air and hope enough land with the Eel facing up. Let’s hit the preview!
Game Info
Date: Saturday, August 15, 2026
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
Kick-off: 5:30 PM AEST
Referee: Todd Smith
Bunker: Grant Atkins
Weather: Mild, potential rain
Broadcast: Fox League, Kayo
Teams
Parramatta Eels
1. Apa Twidle 2. Brian Kelly 3. Will Penisini 4. Jordan Samrani 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Ronald Volkman 22. Mitchell Moses 8. Luca Moretti 9. Tallyn Da Silva 10. Junior Paulo 11. Jack Williams 12. Kitione Kautoga 15. Saxon Pryke. 14. Dylan Walker 16. Teancum Brown 17. Jeziah Funa-Iuta 18. Toni Mataele 19. Sean Russell 20. Kelma Tuilagi. 21. Harrison Edwards.
Well this one certainly got people talking. After being overlooked for the six man bench last week Joash Papalii was again omitted, this time in favour of Apa Twidle who replaces the injured Isaiah Iongi at fullback. Maybe Jason Ryles overhead Joash say that chihuahuas “weren’t real dogs” and is defending his family pet’s honour. Whatever the reason, Twidle has proven worthy of an NRL shot in his Cup time, even if he is on his way to Perth at the end of the year. He shouldn’t let us down.
Sam Tuivaiti’s reduced minutes last week can be explained by an MCL injury that will sideline him for the remainder of the season, he is replaced by Junior Paulo in the starting side with Jezaiah Funa-Iuta moving into the “starting numbers” on the bench and in line for his actual debut this week. Saxon Pryke has been a late switch to lock at the expense of Jack De Belin, who had a bit of a shocker last week, while Dylan Walker returns at the expense of Ryley Smith, who I’d have been keeping in the side regardless of his opinions on toy dogs, but I’m just the previews guy. Toni Mataele also sneaks back onto the bench, with Ryles clearly preferring the “best man up” approach to blooding more than one young talent.
North Queensland
1. Scott Drinkwater 2. Braidon Burns 3. Zac Laybutt 4. Tom Chester 5, Murray Taulagi 6. Jake Clifford 7. Jaxon Purdue 8. Griffin Neame 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Jason Taumalolo 11. Heilum Luki 12. Kai O’Donnell 13. Reuben Cotter. 14. Soni Luke 15. Thomas Mikaele 16. John Bateman 17. Coen Hess 18. Sam McIntyre 19. Ethan King. 20. Kaiden Lahrs.
The Cowboys injury list is going for quality over quantity, with two Queensland representatives on the sidelines in Tom Dearden and Jeremiah Nanai. Matthew Lodge has also been released to Super League for a month, but given he’s played 60 minutes of footy in the last two months I doubt he’ll be missed.
In terms of who is actually playing, Jaxon Purdue replaces Dearden at halfback, though he and Clifford could probably swap numbers for the roles they play. Nanai is replaced by Kai O’Donnell, a man I could tell you alarmingly little about beyond his name. Reed Mahoney has missed a couple of weeks but is back for this one against his old-old club. John Bateman is a notable name on the bench, getting only his fifth game of the year.
Mercurial
Can Volkman get his outside men some quality ball?
That word, mercurial, sounds like it should mean something more positive than it does. It feels like it should describe strength and resilience, not footballing schizophrenia. It is applied to no team more frequently than the Cowboys, who look at nasty things like consistency and reliability and bravely say “not today”, floating off on the whims of the wind to whatever result the fates deem for them on any given weekend.
All of that is to say you may as well do two previews for a Cowboys game, a best and worst case scenario. The good Cowboys can defend, tackle well and have an attack that can score from anywhere on the park. The bad Cowboys throw in the towel at the slightest resistance, get 80 put on them, but could still probably score off any given possession if they’d just hold on to the ball.
The Eels have recent experience against a side easily broken, and it didn’t go well. Parramatta handed Wests a way back into the game just a couple of weeks ago with their trademark handling errors and basic mistakes. The Cowboys mental breaks don’t usually come from being ground out of a contest, they are seemingly beaten before a ball is kicked such is their lack of effort, but give a team like them enough opportunities and the points will pile up regardless of whether their hearts are in it or not.
The scary part of playing the Cowboys is that you might not even need to make those mistakes. In round 10 the Eels completed at 91% compared to the Cowboys 71%, playing out 15 more sets, making 12 fewer errors and not giving away a single penalty (six agains finished at five a piece too). They still needed golden point to win the game, after scoring two tries in the final ten minutes to level the scores. Now Parramatta’s defence was still approaching all time worst levels back then, but the Cowboys were trying everything to hand the game to the Eels and it still took near-perfect footy to get the job done.
Parramatta repeating that high completion, low error football is a long odds bet. Their defence has improved to the point that I feel confident we wouldn’t let the Cowboys score every time they entered our half, but this is still a potent attacking team that can manufacture points as well as finding them in desperation, ad-lib play, something the Eels have proven horrible at defending against.
This all suggests a shootout could be on the cards, and if that is the case the Eels can’t let so many chances go to waste as they did against South Sydney. Ronald Volkman just has to get his outside men better, or any, ball, either hitting Kautoga on short lines or playing out the back and getting room for Samrani and Addo-Carr. All three men can make things happen in space if given the chance, either by going over (Samrani), around (Fox) or through (Kautoga).
Threat Level
Everyone’s favourite Eel in 2026
Last time around the Cowboys centres were Purdue and Chester, with both having career games against a soft Eels defence. Purdue has been finding ways to stay involved even with the seven on his back, and his running threat aiming at the edge and middle defenders is a major concern. Nobody can turn off when play moves past them, and if Purdue angles back across the field the tackling needs to be better. Think the try Adam Doueihi scored the other week, but the ball carrier is much faster.
The Eels wide defence has also improved, but if the Cowboys spread early then there needs to be clearer communication and less panic. One Rabbitohs break last week saw three defenders bite on the link, with the quick pass leaving the winger streaking downfield. I don’t mind a rushing defence to shut down plays, but not when three defenders rush and nobody sweeps.
While the Cowboys can score from anywhere, they’ll still have longer odds of crossing the line if the Eels can win the field position battle. North Queensland has the worst long kicking numbers in the NRL, with Purdue putting up “Daniel Wagon at five eighth” levels of kicking, leaving all long duties to Clifford and occasionally Drinkwater. Mitchell Moses can kick the Eels out of any ordinary set, so long as he is given the chance by actually getting to the last. Force the Cowboys to force their hand, then hope the passes aren’t sticking this week.
There is also some risk of a middle steamrolling and the associated quick rucks that come with it. The Cowboys are a big side, with Jason Taumalolo having a bit of a revival year while Neame, Mikaele and Hess are no slouches in the size department either. I thought Neame was the next great prop the way he carved the Eels apart in the 2022 preliminary final, but that hasn’t quite eventuated. Luki is an elite line runner and will be looking to isolate smaller defenders and generate arm tackles, especially close to the line. He’d be the Eels leading try scorer if he swapped colours, which says a lot about us as well, but he can sniff out a meat pie.
The Game
Hopefully this is a big week for Junior after a few weeks blowing out the cobwebs
The Cowboys have far more to play for, but that means little in the circumstances. They had plenty to play for two weeks ago and the Roosters beat the clock on them. A win for them would put a 4 point gap between the eight and the rest, really dulling the last four rounds of competition and the race for the finals. Conspiracy theorists should be hoping the NRL really wants us to win and the game is officiated accordingly.
Outside of conspiracy, the Eels just need to do what they’ve proven incapable of so many times: hold onto the ball. Last week was actually better in the second half, and indeed Parramatta kept the error count under ten like I asked, but unfortunately they still went into halftime down by 28. Assuming we don’t go down to 12 men and let in three tries in the first ten minutes, good completions should get us further against the Cowboys.
Then it is a matter of two things: taking our chances and holding our line. Volkman can create a moment himself and we need to utilise his kicking game to Samrani more often, but he has to show better vision on that left edge. Just playing “pass first” footy would be an improvement, such is the lack of opportunities his outside men get when he runs them out of space or runs across and dumps back inside. Perhaps the intercepts have scared him into conservative play, but he needs to shake that off to get full value out of that left side.
Holding the line will be tough, but there is plenty of youthful energy in the pack this week. Saxon Pryke at lock will bring higher effort and potentially some more ball movement, while Luca Moretti had some good scramble last week and both Teancum Brown and Toni Mataele are strong hitters with good tackle efficiency, just don’t leave either of them out there too long.
I think I’ll always tip us against the Cowboys. They just have that in them. It could be easy, it could be tough, it could be one of those days where they just aren’t getting beaten and we have to wear it. You’re always a chance against North Queensland (and I’d guess plenty of teams would say the same about us). It’ll need a good effort, but I’m backing us to do it.
Go you Eels!
Prediction: Eels 28 d Cowboys 24
Man of the Match: Mitchell Moses
Gol
Why don’t wingers stay on their opposing winger instead of coming off their own wing to help their centre that allows their opponent winger an open space to the try line
Hope you are right, Gol. We’ve had glimpses this season but mistakes, especially dropped balls, have killed us. Two of the repeat offenders , Kelma and Iongi, are not in the team for this week so maybe ball security will be better. However, it became a contagion with even Moses dropping one cold against the Riff. Some new blood anxious to show what they can do is good. I’ll watch them with interest. Pryke was impressive against the Bunnies. So to was Brown.