If Mitchell Moses didn’t damage his foot, Brad Arthur would still be Eels coach. 

But he did and Arthur is not.

Moses showed his value to Parramatta at CommBank Stadium on Thursday night by guiding the home side to a much-needed 34-22 win over Cronulla in his comeback from injury. 

For the Sharks, their glass was half empty. With star playmaker Nicho Hynes in NSW camp, Braydon Trindall returned at halfback in his first appearance since he was arrested for drink-driving a month ago. 

He looked rusty and his partnership with rookie Daniel Atkinson was not as effective as Parramatta’s pairing of Moses calling the shots and Dylan Brown picking his moments to attack, freed of the burden of the organisational duties. 

The Moses effect

Parra won just once in the eight games Moses was sidelined since suffering the injury in Round 3 but they breathed life into their fading finals hopes with their best performance of the season.

While ever Moses is in the No.7 jersey they are a puncher’s chance of rising from the canvas under interim coach Trent Barrett to sneak into the playoffs although with a 4-8 record they still have a long way to be in the top-eight equation.

Sharks winger Sione Katoa celebrated his 100th NRL game by scoring the opening try after a basic goal-line handling error from Clint Gutherson in his comeback from a month-long knee layoff. 

Parra equalised when Will Penisini brushed off opposing centre Kayal Iro before hitting the front when Maika Sivo motored onto the end of a left-side attacking raid. 

Sivo made it 16-4 with his second, bumping off Will Kennedy’s last-ditch tackle while barely breaking stride out wide. 

Cronulla pegged the deficit back to six in the 34th minute when Kennedy dusted himself off to create a long-range kick return for Ronaldo Mulitalo and then backing up to score under the posts. 

The Sharks started the second half with dominance in field position but Parra piggybacked their way downfield with a couple of six-again rulings and Junior Paulo powered over from close range for a 22-10 advantage.  

Moses all but sealed the result midway through the second half when he scooted down the blindside and flicked a pass for Bailey Simonsson to touch down.

Nerves swelled among Eels fans when Atkinson scurried over with plenty of time on the clock and when Katoa cashed in on a Braden Hamlin-Uele no-look pass to make it a six-point margin heading into the final 12 minutes.

Brown halted the comeback and calmed the butterflies in blue and gold stomachs when he ran the ball on the last in the 70th minute to give the Eels just their fourth win of 2024.

Arthur can feel hard done by … kinda

Former NSW coach Phil Gould questioned why Parramatta pulled the trigger on Arthur’s decade-plus coaching tenure last week when the team’s fortunes were always going to turn when Moses returned.

That is true to an extent but there were very few critics of Eels management when they made the decision with even Arthur saying he could see why they made the call to give him the punt midway through what was supposed to be the penultimate season of his contract.

Moses was viewed as a potential option to be the NSW halfback again in the lead-up to the team being selected for next Wednesday’s series opener at Accor Stadium. If he had made his return a week earlier and played like this, he very well could have been handed the assignment ahead of Hynes.

Gutherson’s return made it a double-barrelled boost for Parra – he is an unfashionable but effective fullback, racking up more than 275 run metres while making more runs (25) than any other player on the park.

Sharks lack bite

Without Hynes to sharpen their attack and Cameron McInnes giving their defence some teeth, the Sharks looked one-dimensional.

On the back of their 42-0 flogging at the hands of Penrith, they needed to improve and it’s hardly panic stations when you lose back-to-back matches and are still in equal first on the ladder, but coach Craig Fitzgibbon’s side is in a mini rut.

Cronulla have stumbled to second on percentages behind Melbourne who have pocketed two points from the bye this round with Penrith a chance to leapfrog them both if their weakened squad can account for St George Illawarra on Saturday.

The Sharks have a tricky task to get back on track next Saturday when they travel to Brisbane to face an Origin-addled Broncos side but if Hynes is unable to suit up after getting through his NSW performance on a dodgy calf muscle, the Sharks could be hurtling towards a third straight defeat and more questions about whether they really are genuine title contenders.