Sterlo's Parra Preview - Eels v Cowboys, Round 14
The Parramatta Eel take on the North Queensland Cowboys in the Eels home away from home, the Northern Territory, on Sunday 9 June in Round 14 of the NRL Telstra Premiership.
For the clash at Darwin’s TIO Stadium, Blue & Gold Head Coach Brad Arthur has made a handful of changes to his Blue & Gold line up that suffered a defeat to the Newcastle Knights last week with Mitch Moses & Will Smith ruled out with injury whilst Tepai Moeroa has been suspended.
Jarryd Hayne, Corey Norman and Tim Mannah return from injury seeing a reshuffled starting line up that has Hayne in the centres, Norman at halfback alongside Clint Gutherson, Peni Terepo in the starting front row and Brad Takairangi returning to the back row.
Reed Mahoney is set to become Blue & Gold Official Player Number 794, making his debut from the bench, alongside Mannah, David Gower and Marata Niukore.
Siosaia Vave, Suaia Matagi, Jaeman Salmon and Ray Stone are the reserves.
For the Cowboys, Head Coach Paul Green has named Michael Morgan, Gavin Cooper and Coen Hess all to back up from Origin. Matt Scott returns from suspension at prop moving Corey Jensen to the bench.
Shaun Fensom and Ethan Lowe also drop to the bench with Ben Hampton and Mitchell Dunn to the reserves.
The Eels sit bottom of the table with just two wins this season and Arthur will be looking for a much improved showing after their “embarrassing” performance last week.
The Cowboys, who still have a glimmer of hope of a 2018 Finals campaign came away with a impressive win on the road over the Sea Eagles last week.
They have just four wins from their 13 games this season.
Historically, the Eels and Cowboys clashes have been split with the Eels claiming 19 wins from 38 games. In the clash in Darwin last year, the Cowboys warmed to the occasion with a convincing 32-6 victory in Round 14, 2017.
The Eels won 26-6 at 1300SMILES Stadium earlier in the 2017 season before the Cowboys eliminated the Eels from the 2017 Finals series in Week Two.
Kick off is at 7:30pm (7pm local time).
Match Details: Parramatta Eels v North Queensland Cowboys, Darwin, TIO Stadium.
Head-to-head: Played 38; Eels 19 wins, Cowboys 18 wins, 1 draw
Matches at venue: Played 1, Cowboys 1 win
2017 results: Eels won 26-6 at 1300Smiles Stadium in round 9; Cowboys won 32-6 at TIO Stadium in round 14; Cowboys won 24-16 at ANZ Stadium in finals week 2
Points per game: Eels 13.4; Cowboys 16.4
Points conceded per game: Eels 22.9; Cowboys 20.1
Televised: Live on Fox League
Eels: 1 Bevan French, 2 Josh Hoffman, 3 Michael Jennings, 4 Jarryd Hayne, 5 George Jennings, 6 Clint Gutherson (c), 7 Corey Norman, 8 Daniel Alvaro, 9 Cameron King, 10 Peni Terepo, 11 Manu Ma'u, 12 Brad Takairangi, 13 Nathan Brown
Interchange: 14 Reed Mahoney, 15 Tim Mannah (c), 16 David Gower, 17 Marata Niukore
Reserves: 18 Siosaia Vave, 19 Suaia Matagi, 20 Jaeman Salmon, 21 Raymond Stone
Cowboys: 1 Michael Morgan, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Justin O'Neill, 4 Enari Tuala, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Te Maire Martin, 7 Johnathan Thurston (c), 8 Matthew Scott (c), 9 Jake Granville, 10 Sam Hoare, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Coen Hess, 13 Jason Taumalolo
Interchange: 14 Shaun Fensom, 15 Kane Linnett, 16 Corey Jensen, 17 Ethan Lowe
Reserves: 18 Lachlan Coote, 19 Ben Hampton, 20 Mitchell Dunn, 21 Javid Bowen, 22 Francis Molo
Match Officials: Referee: Peter Gough & Gavin Badger Touch Judges: Rickey McFarlane & Rohan Best; Review Officials: Bryan Norrie & Steve Chiddy
