Moses and Eels brace for torrid run home

Eels halfback Mitchell Moses is under no illusions about the challenge facing his side ahead of arguably the toughest run home in the competition. 

While they head into Round 21 sitting 7th on the Telstra Premiership ladder, just 48 differential points separate them and the ninth-placed Cowboys, who are the NRL's form team with five-straight wins to their name. 

While no club is secured in the eight heading into the final seven rounds of the season, Parramatta find themselves in a particularly tricky spot given the remaining games on their fixture list. 

Half of their six encounters (the club has a bye in Round 27) are against sides currently sitting inside the top four, plus this Saturday's meeting with the red-hot Cowboys.

Just two of those games are at CommBank Stadium where the Eels have been tough to beat this year, and all three clashes against top four sides occur on the road, with trips to Melbourne, Brisbane and Penrith awaiting Brad Arthur's men. 

They'll also have to get the job done over the next month without two of their most experienced players, after winger Maika Sivo and representative prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard each received four-game bans for incidents arising from last week's 25-24 win over the Titans. 

Moses said while it's set to be a huge challenge, he believes if they can emerge from it inside the top eight it will serve them well for the finals. 

"It's a big test for us coming to the end of the season. We have got to string a few wins together to hopefully cement our spot in the eight," he said. 

We have got a fair few away games against some really quality teams. We are going to miss a few players now as well... it's going to be a tough road for us. 

Mitchell Moses

"Hopefully, if we are playing finals at the end of the year, it's a good test and good prep I guess. 

"We know what we need to do to win footy games and if we can stick to our game plans and what works well for us, we will give ourselves a good chance to win games at the end of the year."

Having earlier this year agreed to a new deal with the club through to the end of 2026, with player options for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, Moses continued an impressive campaign by earning selection in the NSW squad for Games Two and Three of this year's Origin series. 

Despite losing the series, the 28-year-old said he's hoping the confidence he gained from helping the Blues to victory in Game III earlier this month will rub off on the Eels over the next month and a half. 

"It was a good experience... any time you can win a game in that arena is pretty good," Moses said. 

"I felt comfortable in that last game and hopefully I can take a bit of confidence out of that and take it into the end of the season.

"I have played in a few big games now and definitely learned from a lot of those games."

Saturday night's clash with the Cowboys at Queensland Country Bank Stadium will be the first time the two sides have met in Townsville since last year's thrilling preliminary final, which saw the Eels win 24-20 and advance to the Grand Final.