Under-siege Parramatta are set to be without star halfback Mitchell Moses for up to three weeks with a knee injury suffered in Saturday's embarrassing NRL loss to Newcastle.
There were fears Moses was set for a long stint on the sidelines after twisting awkwardly in a Daniel Saifiti tackle in the 30-4 drubbing at ANZ Stadium.
It was initially feared he had torn his MCL however scans on Sunday cleared him of structural damage.
He will miss two to three weeks with bone bruising while utility Will Smith will be out for one to two weeks because of a hamstring.
The Eels will also be sweating on the fitness of Bevan French and Peni Terepo ahead of Saturday's clash with North Queensland in Darwin after they failed to finish against the Knights because of concussion.
As well, Tepai Moeroa will miss three to five weeks after being cited for a grade three shoulder charge on Chris Heighington.
Following their disastrous loss to Newcastle, Eels skipper Clint Gutherson bristled at suggestions coach Brad Arthur is on the chopping block .
The blue and golds were left black and blue after they had injury added to insult following their fifth straight loss, which Arthur labelled as "embarrassing".
After watching their side's season hit rock bottom, some fans are calling for Arthur to be sacked.
However, Gutherson promised to repay Arthur, who has been a pillar of strength for his players as the club lurched from one disaster to the next over the last several years.
"It's ridiculous you know," Gutherson said.
"Brad and the staff put so much effort into making it so easy for us to go out there and put in our best performance. It's embarrassing that we're letting them down.
"It's really hard. I love this team, I love Brad and we love this team and I put my heart out there.
"We need to have a hard look at ourselves and play with pride."
With his side's finals hopes well and truly extinguished, Arthur said his charges needed to restore some pride to the jersey.
"That's embarrassing," Arthur said.
"We're not proud of that performance, we're not proud of ourselves, we've let a lot of people down tonight. We let our club down, our fans.
"The biggest people we've let down is ourselves. We've embarrassed ourselves."
Asked what his side was lacking, Arthur questioned his their desire.
"We trained all week," Arthur said.
"We got here ... and I don't know where our mentality was at. But it wasn't playing some tough footy for 80 minutes."
The Eels hope to have Corey Norman (foot), Jarryd Hayne (hip) and Tim Mannah (eye socket) available when they take on the Cowboys.
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