NRL Finals Preview: Cowboys, Eels square off in Townsville blockbuster

The North Queensland Cowboys will host the Parramatta Eels on Friday night in the first preliminary final ever played in Townsville with the winner to advance to the Grand Final.

The sides have met just once this season with North Queensland coming away with a comfortable 35-4 victory in Round 8 in Darwin with winger Kyle Feldt bagging a hattrick.

Despite the scoreboard dominance, Parramatta kept things tight in possession and yardage but were porous defensively and struggled containing the boot of Chad Townsend.

It was one of just two games this season in which Brad Arthur shifted Dylan Brown out of his preferred five-eighth position and into the centres with Jakob Arthur donning the six jumper.

The Eels backline will look significantly different this time around with Maika Sivo, Tom Opacic, and Waqa Blake all named for Friday night’s must-win preliminary final.

The only difference in the Cowboys 17 from that clash will be the inclusion of midseason recruit Luciano Leilua.

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The Cowboys have named the same 17 that got the job done in the 93rd minute against the Sharks in week one of the finals. Todd Payten made a late swap that night bringing Tom Gilbert into the starting lineup for Leilua, however, Gilbert has been named to start on this occasion from the outset.

Parramatta, meanwhile, have made just the one change to their 17 that took care of business against the Raiders at CommBank on Friday night with Bryce Cartwright replacing Makahesi Makatoa on the interchange. Opacic remains under an injury cloud after exiting their clash against the Raiders early with a hamstring issue; Marata Niukore is the favourite to replace him in the run-on side should he fail to get through Thursday’s captain’s run. Download Our Free NRL App

Both sides have been largely matched in recent clashes with each team winning three of their past six against one another. Parramatta have, however, won just one of their past eight games against the Cowboys in Townsville and have not played them at the newly-built QLD Country Bank Stadium.

The two sides have played each other just twice in postseason history – preliminary finals in 2005 and 2017 – with North Queensland running out winners on both occasions. The Cowboys would go on to lose both Grand Finals.

Their most recent finals clash was in 2017 when Michael Morgan inspired an unlikely 24-16 victory at ANZ Stadium.

This will be the seventh preliminary finals appearance in North Queensland’s 28-year history as they aim to qualify for their fourth Grand Final. Todd Payten joins Graham Murray and Paul Green as the only coaches in club history to reach a preliminary final.

Parramatta, meanwhile, are making their first preliminary finals appearance since 2009 when they overcame Canterbury 22-12. It will be their 19th preliminary final in club history as they aim to qualify for their 10th Grand Final.

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In terms of minutes, Reuben Cotter was eased back into things following his midseason injury after numerous big-minute outings in the opening half of the year and put together his highest minutes output of the season in his side’s win over Cronulla. Jason Taumalolo’s minutes have been up-and-down for much of the season but, like Cotter, totalled his highest output of the season in their qualifying final win. Expecting the two to match their week one output seems unreasonable, however, both will likely be on the field for upwards of an hour. Jordan McLean was one of the men impacted by the uptick in Cotter and Taumalolo’s minutes against Cronulla along with Coen Hess and Griffin Neame. Jeremiah Nanai will play 80 on one edge whilst Tom Gilbert will start on the other edge before being replaced by Luciano Leilua who will play out the game with Gilbert coming back into the middle for a longer stretch.

For the Eels, Arthur has been largely consistent with his interchanges in recent weeks and has made his vision clear. Junior Paulo’s minutes have remained mostly consistent for much of the season but have gradually increased over the past month whilst Reagan Campbell-Gillard’s minutes have recovered from a midseason drop and have steadily increased over the past month; both will play close to three quarters of the game. Ryan Matterson’s role has changed over the course of the season but, despite coming off the bench over the past five weeks, his minute totals have looked similar to that of Campbell-Gillard’s. Edges Shaun Lane and Isaiah Papali’i will both be relied on to go the full 80 whilst Niukore and Oregon Kaufusi will sit somewhere in the 30-to-40-mark. The role Cartwright plays remains difficult to judge, however, Makatoa – the man he is replacing – has generally been thrown into proceedings for a sputtering of minutes late in the piece. Download Our Free NRL App

The Cowboys enter the clash as $1.70 favourites with bookmakers expecting a raucous home crowd to help drag them to victory.

Kick-off: 7:50pm Friday at QLD Country Bank Stadium, Townsville

Eels: Eels: 1. Gutherson (c); 2. Sivo; 3. Penisini; 4. Opacic; 5. Blake; 6. Brown; 7. Moses; 8. Campbell-Gillard; 9. Mahoney; 10 Paulo (c); 11. Lane; 12. Papali’i; 13. Matterson; 14. Cartwright; 15. Arthur; 16. Kaufusi; 17. Niukore; 18. Makatoa; 19. Simonsson; 20. Brown; 21. Ogden; 22. Rodwell

Cowboys: 1. Drinkwater; 2. Feldt; 3. Holmes; 4. Hiku; 5. Taulagi; 6. Dearden; 7. Townsend (c); 8. McLean; 9. Robson; 10. Cotter; 11. Gilbert; 12. Nanai; 13. Taumalolo (c); 14. Tabuai-Fidow; 15. Leilua; 16. Hess; 17. Neame; 18. Taunoa-Brown; 19. Chester; 20. Granville; 21. Elliot; 22. Hampton

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