Coach Brad Arthur doesn't believe Parramatta face an uphill battle to make the NRL's top eight after being leapfrogged on the standings by North Queensland in their 24-16 loss.
The Eels' injury and suspension issues were compounded on Saturday when Shaun Lane dislocated his elbow in the second half and joined Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Maika Sivo and Dylan Brown, all suspended, on the sidelines.
Winger Waqa Blake was also placed on report for a shoulder charge in the first half.
Lane could face an extended period on the sidelines, with Sivo and Campbell-Gillard still two to three weeks away from making their returns.
Parramatta have a seven-day turnaround for another tough away trip to Melbourne, who are also coming off a loss in round 21.
But Arthur says he is focused only on next week and getting a result against the Storm to stay in the finals hunt.
"It's not an uphill battle," Arthur said on Saturday.
"We'll just worry about next week and we've still got a good football team there.
"We're playing against a good football team next week and both teams are going to be desperate.
"We'll go about doing our business but it's not an uphill battle mate, we're still right there."
Parramatta must play three teams inside the top eight from their remaining five matches on the run home.
All three fixtures – against Melbourne, Brisbane and Penrith – are away from home, with another crucial fixture against Sydney Roosters at CommBank stadium before a bye in round 27.
Arthur said there were plenty of positives to take from their loss to the Cowboys but they were guilty of heaping pressure on themselves.
"The main one is, I don't know how we still had the energy and the run in our legs," he said.
"We finished the better and we didn't deserve to because of the amount of pressure we put ourselves under and the amount of fatigue we put into ourselves through gifting field position through errors and penalties."
"So, that's the positives for me."
