Eels' Vella finally gets his chance

Having watched on from the sidelines as Parramatta went from wooden spoon contenders to the NRL premiership high flyer, Eels prop Michael Vella finally gets his chance to join in on the fun.
Vella will make a welcome return for the front row-starved Eels against North Queensland in Townsville, Parramatta desperate to get its finals campaign back on track.

The Eels won nine straight matches before going down to Brisbane last week, Vella only managing an appearance in the first win of that streak against South Sydney in round 15 before a severe ankle sprain almost ruined his season.

"I thought I'd miss out on all this because (teammate) Nathan Hindmarsh has had a similar injury before and he missed about 14 or 15 weeks," Vella said.

"From when I did it 14 weeks would have been to the week of the grand final.

"The last time I played we beat Souths and the boys went on a good winning streak from there and I missed out.

"I was always confident we were a chance of making it into the top eight but I thought we might have sneaked into seventh or eighth.

"I didn't think we'd go as good as we did and win nine straight.

"It's good to finally be back part of it."

Another man happy to see Vella back on the paddock is coach Jason Taylor, who had to operate with just one specialist prop against the Broncos.

The 23-0 loss to Brisbane cost the Eels any chance of a home final but Vella said the side still held out some hope of moving up the ladder in the final round of the season.

"Who knows, we win this week and some of the results go our way we could end up in sixth which would be good," Vella said.

"It's not the end of the world if we don't, with the side we've got there's enough quality players there we can beat any side."

Vella's return coincides with that of playmaker Tim Smith, who was also expected to miss the rest of the season after fracturing his collarbone in the round 18 win over Newcastle.
His availability couldn't have come at a better time for Taylor who last week lost halfback Jeremy Smith to a broken hand.

The Cowboys received a major boost on the eve of the match with injured halfback Johnathan Thurston cleared to make a surprise return from a knee injury.

Thurston hasn't played since suffering a grade three medial ligament strain against Brisbane in round 20 with his earlier than expected return sure to aid his chances of retaining his Australian Test jumper for the end of season Tri-Nations tournament.

He is expected to start at halfback with Aaron Payne shifting to hooker to replace David Faiumu who has been omitted due to ongoing neck and shoulder complaints.

Emotions are sure to be running high at Dairy Farmers Stadium with prolific winger Matt Sing, skipper Travis Norton and centre Josh Hannay all playing their final games for the club.

The retiring Norton is captain despite being named on the bench after recovering from a shoulder complaint.