Sometimes, the two points is enough. Parramatta have often lost when playing well and won when playing badly in 2023, and at this stage of the year, any win will do.
For the Eels, everything counts at this stage, with hopes of a top eight finish contingent on a major winning run between now and the end of the season.
They were far from fluent in despatching the Cowboys 24-16 at CommBank Stadium, but had more than enough to get the victory against a side that did everything to stop them playing.
As has so often been the case, Dylan Brown and Mitchell Moses were the difference. The halfback grabbed a late try to clinch it, while his partner had a hand in two crucial scores and stopped another at a vital moment in the first half.
The win will feel particularly sweet given the outs: Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Shaun Lane are long-term absentees – though RCG may be back after next week’s bye – and Junior Paulo is away at Origin.
Ryan Matterson limped out last week with a calf injury and new signing Joe Ofahengaue suffered the same fate within ten minutes tonight, leaving the Eels with an inexperienced pack forced to play big minutes.
“We needed the two points,” said Brad Arthur. “I challenged the boys around their effort and physicality and we did that really well.
“You can focus on who’s out of the team or you can focus on who is getting an opportunity. All these guys, I’m so proud of them. Those middle guys get limited game time, then we get an injury early and they’re forced into hanging in there and fronting up.”
The Cowboys were on the wrong end of a thrashing last week against the Wests Tigers and, in many respects, that result made this something of a hiding to nothing for Parramatta. They win and move on.
North Queensland showed a level of fight that was sorely lacking at Leichhardt, defending with gusto and mounting a late charge that could have snuck them a late win. It wasn’t to be, and few could argue that it would have been deserved.
Their plan was simple: complete high, make themselves difficult to beat and hope that Scott Drinkwater did enough to score them points. It almost worked, too, with another three try assists for the fullback. In the end, however, it was too little, too late.
The loss leaves them adrift of the top eight, but Todd Payten wasn’t losing hope yet.
“As a coach, I’ve been concerned for a while,” he said of his team’s form. “I know how tight the competition is but what keeps me optimistic is how much ability we’ve got in the group.
“We should get Jason (Taumalolo) and Jeremiah (Nanai) back last week and fingers crossed the Origin boys get through unscathed.
“There’s enough footy left and I know that we’re good enough, so we keep working hard and making sure that our concentration and focus is where it needs to be.
“We’re here because of our own decisions and actions, so there’s no-one else to blame. We just have to fight hard.”
Dylan Brown was very slow to start the year. It was understandable: the five eighth played more games than anyone in the NRL last year and only St Helens’ Jack Welsby managed more globally.
With a truncated pre-season due to a late return from the World Cup, followed by a tough draw that forced Parra to start the year running.
The last month, however, has seen the Kiwi international rediscover the form of 2022, with a string of stellar performances.
This was one of the best: he laid on the opener for Wiremu Greig, chopped down Chad Townsend to stop a surefire try and, in the second half, provided the spark for Maika Sivo to break the deadlock.
It was the Sivo try that showed the best of Brown. We all know about the step, and most are aware of his defence, too. But the control of tempo is a skill that few have, but Brown had in spades.
His running ability allows him that extra second before contact, as tacklers have to wait for the step, which he uses so often to delay the defence, draw them in, and then find someone in space. It went down as a try assist for Clint Gutherson, but it was all Brown.
You could forgive Todd Payten for trying to keep things simple after the shellacking they caught at Leichhardt Oval last week.
At times in the first half, it seemed as the messaging was simply to get to the end of their sets and then tackle, with wingers exclusively used for yardage work and next to no ball-playing.
Robert Derby, one of the most exciting wingers at second grade level, was exceptional in a workhorse capacity and made 25 runs for 200 metres, but no opportunity to show his skills offensively.
Only when they got within the red zone did they put on any attack, but fortunately for North Queensland, one of their forays did result in points thanks to Scott Drinkwater.
Indeed, on their second foray, with ten to play, the fullback again created a try from nothing. Then another one with five to go.
It’s worth pointing of that, despite the 66 points against last week, Drinkwater laid on all three of their tries. He’s carrying this team and it isn’t even close.
It’s a shame that nobody was able to go with him. The Cowboys’ intention, clearly, was to keep the ball in play as well and force Parra to bring it back as far as possible, even at the expense of their own attack.
Their 94% completion rate was not an accident, nor was it ever likely to win them the game.
When the Eels had the ball, it was operation slow motion from the tacklers: they lay around, stuck hands in rucks and pushed every rule as far as it would get.
Referee Liam Kennedy let them away with it, calling a set restart three minutes in and then waiting an hour to call another. That’s very much not their problem: if you want to play defensively, as the Cows did, then push as far as you can until the officials push back.
The whole gameplan seemed oriented around denying Parramatta attacking opportunity and, in fairness, it did work for a long time. The Eels were kept at bay fairly comfortably.
The problem with that kind of footy is that it rarely lasts. Two tries in quick succession against a very tired defence seemed to take it away from the Cowboys, and though the second wind came, it wasn’t enough.
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