Coach Todd Payten will continue to ease hulking superstar Jason Taumalolo back into the North Queensland side as the Cowboys prepare for a Parramatta home clash that could make or break their season.
After staring down the barrel of a 5-8 record, Payten's Cowboys have posted five-straight wins over Melbourne, Penrith, South Sydney, Wests and Manly to sit outside the top eight on points differential.
Parramatta are one of the teams with the same number of points as the Cowboys, but the visitors are above them on the NRL ladder and also face a difficult home run.
Saturday's victor in Townsville will move two points clear on the standings, but Payten resisted the chance of starting Taumalolo despite him having some match fitness since returning from a long injury lay-off.
"I don't know," said Payten, when asked of a timeframe on when Taumalolo will start.
"The three starting forwards are doing a tremendous job ... last week when our bench came on they really took the game away from Manly.
"Reubs (Reuben Cotter) comes on, Griff (Griffin Neame) comes on and Jase comes on, and we didn't lose anything. If anything, we put the foot down in those moments.
"Jason's got a fair bit of footy left. He's one of our best players, just needs to get himself matched as quick as possible.
"Jase is not aggrieved in any way. He understands in some ways this protects him from the start of the game where it's super quick, and then he can have a strong impact when he does come on the pitch."
The Cowboys need no further motivation against the Eels than a home preliminary final loss that ended their season in 2022.
Much-loved utility Jake Granville will also run out for his 200th NRL appearance.
Payten and his staff decorated the training facility in the build-up to their clash with Wests with images of their harrowing 66-18 loss in Sydney and they turned it around with a 74-0 victory over the Tigers.
There are no reminders needed this week, Payten said.
"Where we stand on the ladder and I'm sure the players remember their last game against us up here," he added.
"And we've touched on Jakey Granville's 200th.
"There's many reasons to be motivated and I don't know how much we have to lean into each one of them, to be fair.
"We're playing a good team and we need to improve."
The Cowboys have won their last five games at home.
