NRL Round 7 Preview - Cowboys v Eels

North Queensland Cowboys v Parramatta Eels
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Friday 23 April 2010 - 7:35pm kickoff

The Cowboys are well placed to cause an upset here. It is exactly the type of match where historically, a favoured Eels team might fail to perform. Plenty of advantages for the home side as they host a team still struggling to find rhythm in attack and who have been horribly ill-disciplined. To add to the excitement, North Queensland have named Willie Mason and Carl Webb in their starting side.

This would have been impressive about 4 years ago, but time marches on and the injury riddled Cowboys do not have enough points in them to put any fear into the Eels. To win, the home side must grind out a victory through physically bashing the visitors but we think the Eels can overcome this and finish on top through an impressive scrum base and potent interchange bench. Timana Tahu was fantastic last week and will be a joy to watch once again here. This match could signal the return of J. Hayne.

Man of the Match Prediction: Jarryd Hayne
Tip: Eels 24-10

Cowboys: 1. Shannon Gallant 2. John Williams 3. Ash Graham 4. Willie Tonga 5. Michael Bani 6. Grant Rovelli 7. Ray Thompson 8. Matthew Scott 9. Anthony Watts 10. Carl Webb 11. Scott Bolton 12. Willie Mason 13. Steve Rapira
Interchange: 14. Clint Amos 15. Steve Southern 16. Isaak Ah Mau 17. James Tamou
Reserves: Dane Hogan
Eels: 1. Jarryd Hayne 2. Luke Burt 3. Joel Reddy 4. Timana Tahu 5. Krisnan Inu 6. Kris Keating 7. Daniel Mortimer 8. Nathan Cayless [c] 9. Jeff Robson 10. Fuifui Moimoi 11. Nathan Hindmarsh [c]12. Ben Smith13. Feleti Mateo
Interchange: 14. Matt Keating 15. Tim Mannah 16. Justin Horo 17. Justin Poore
Reserves: 19. Eric Grothe

Referees: Jason Robinson & Tony De La Heras; Sideline Officials: Steve Chiddy & Henry Perenara; Video Referee: Tim Mander