The two benches will be crucial in next weekend's Eels-Cowboys grand final qualifier, and the Eels have an ace up their sleeve in tough Kiwi Marata Niukore.Usually starting on the bench, Niukore was given a starting spot and was superb in the Eels' 40-4 thrashing of Canberra last Friday night, scoring two tries in the final 10 minutes and coming up with 168 run metres.Niukore gives the Eels real thrust and the Raiders had no answer to his power running game.The Warriors would have loved watching him rip into the Raiders - the big forward is off to Auckland next season.The Eels literally ran the Raiders off their feet in a remarkable bounce-back from the previous week's loss to Penrith to get into their first GF qualifier since 2009.Some 13 Eels ran for more than 100 metres, with four of those getting over the 200 metre mark.Those are remarkable statistics - but the Eels will find the going a lot tougher against the well-drilled Cowboys defence in the heat and humidity of Townsville.
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