Parramatta 16 North Queensland 4

IN A week in which booze and brawls and biff dominated, the game needed its players to step up and show us all why we love the greatest game of all.

And sure enough, after Parramatta overcame North Queensland last night, we were all still looking.

Many observers believe the Eels have dropped the metaphorical ball in recent weeks. A gun roster with dud results. Last night they dropped real ball. And lots of it. A Pakistani slips cordon full of the dropsies. And they weren't alone.

Jarryd Hayne's tangle of boot and hand and Dayne Weston's face may end up being the talking point of the game, and it truly summed up the contest. A mess.

There were some highlights. Luke Burt, the Parramatta fullback, claimed a 10-point haul - a try, two conversions and two penalty goals - after being rested a week earlier.

Despite not being named for the game, he was back at the back and showing the sort of creativity that had gone missing from his playbook in recent weeks. He was heavily involved in the opening exchanges. Which were the crucial exchanges because the game was effectively over once they were too, even though the Cowboys made it interesting - at least when it came to a possible change of result - at times.

Twice the wooden-spoon favourites were held up over the line, and twice they dropped the ball - surprise surprise - in the act of scoring. They could easily have won this contest, a warning sign for any Parramatta fan thinking the world is a different place this morning, even if they have ended a losing streak at three matches.

Burt at least will be feeling better. He scored the Eels' first try, following halfback Brett Finch's grubber kick, which ricocheted invitingly into the in-goal off Aaron Payne. A conversion and a penalty goal followed, and by the 11th minute mark, it was Burt 8, Cowboys 0.

He can take a lot of the credit for their next try, too, grubbering himself after 24 minutes, and then again, which led to Jackson Nicolau being forced in-goal.

From the next set, winger Tony Williams scored surely the simplest of his four tries in first grade when he stepped and poked his nose through some awful defence.

It had to spark the Cowboys into action and it did. The warm-blooded Cowboys seemed to be in some sort of hibernation for most of the half, but Sione Faumuina at least woke them up for a period when he sent the other Williams, John, over in the opposite corner. Faumuina's basketball pass was superb.

He did well to find himself over the line but the only hoop skill he came up with when he did was a dribble, and he lost the ball over the line after 32 minutes. That would have made the game interesting. As it was, by the time the two sides exited stage west at the half-time break, it deserved the crowd of 7253.

You cannot possibly say the Eels are back, only that they were better than the side who would have lost 12 straight. They were up the creek with one paddle left, to steal a line from Nathan Hindmarsh, and they were certainly paddling around in a circle.

"Eyes on, Teddy," referee Steve 'Tedro' Lyons said to himself at one stage. If only the players in front and alongside him were listening.

Especially Taulima Tautai, who looks like a brute but was just butterfingered last night. On two occasions he remarkably lost possession from seemingly simple kicks with little pressure on him. On the first occasion, after 32 minutes, Faumuina lost the ball over the line, and on the second, Carl Webb was held up, much to the relief of the Parramatta fans but to the frustration of the Cowboys, who appeared a little hard done by.

They lost another split decision two minutes later when prop Ray Cashmere knocked on as he attempted a miraculous put-down.

The officials, clearly weren't immune from dropping the ball. The late-hit call on Eels interchange players Broderick Wright, who on debut brushed Cowboys halfback Travis Burns almost simultaneously following Burns's kick, was a shocker.

"You've got yourself on TV now," a fan screamed at the touch judge who made the report. There may not have been many watching by then.

PARRAMATTA 16 (L Burt, T Williams tries; L Burt 4 goals) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 4 (J Williams try) at Parramatta Stadium. Referee: S Lyons. Crowd: 7253.