Todd Payten saluted one of his biggest wins as North Queensland coach as they defeated the Parramatta Eels 35-4 on Saturday.
The Cowboys are pushing to finish in the eight and play finals football and the shock win in Darwin takes Payten’s men to third spot on the ladder.
Strong defence
The Cowboys had to dig deep and Payten was delighted with the defensive effort of his side before they ran in three late tries to put the icing on the cake.
Parramatta were held scoreless in the first half and it is a huge turnaround by the Cowboys who had the worst defence in the comp last season.
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"It's right up there, yeah," Payten told reporters after the game. "We've got a couple of good ones this year. But given we played a top-four team tonight in really tough conditions.
"They had a lot of ball in that first 20 minute period of the game and won the game on the back foot on the back of our defence. I'm pretty pleased."
Lack of intensity
Meanwhile Eels coach Brad Arthur says his side paid the price for letting their standards drop and the intensity just wasn’t there from his players.
"We have to be prepared, every team is coming after us. That's what happens when you put yourself up there,” he said. “Teams are coming after us and we have to be prepared to match that level of intensity every week.
“I know it's a long season but that's what our job is, we've got to match that intensity that teams are coming with against us."
