It may just be the hiccup Parramatta had to have when they were thrashed by St George Illawarra, because four in a row is sounding do-able for the NRL's late-season bloomers.

The Eels won seven straight before crashing back to earth in last Friday night's 37-0 Kogarah ambush and had been looking at winning 12 in succession to win the grand final if they'd downed the Dragons.

That's a lot of pressure relieved, captain Nathan Cayless said on Monday.

"We only have to win four now so that's a bit easier than winning 12 in a row," he told AAP.

"We were a bit guilty of maybe looking too far ahead of ourselves on Friday night, maybe getting a bit carried away with making the semis but now we're here we need to make the most of our opportunity."

To do that the Eels will have to become just the second eighth-placed team in a decade to knock off the minor premiers in week one of the finals.

Cayless is confident the Eels can get back to the scintillating form that propelled them from the wrong end of the table into a do-or-die rematch with the Dragons at WIN Jubilee Oval on Sunday.

"It's pretty easy if you look at the game closely," he said.

"The amount of errors that we made with the football and the amount of opportunities that we gave the Dragons to attack our line without them having to do a lot of hard work to get down there, that was the most disappointing thing.

"We played really dumb football.

"We knew (the Dragons) were going to come out hard because they'd had such a tough time with the media and everyone had been really sticking the boot into them, but we didn't handle that very well at all.

"They copped a bit of stick over the previous month but I'm sure their confidence is high now and they'll be looking at themselves as being back and being the number one contender."

The Dragons' right-side defence has been highlighted as one area the Eels might have exploited more, but Cayless was cagey when asked if that would be the case second time around.

"Can't say too much," he said.

"Obviously as a team you've got to try and look at some weak points in any team that you play against and I'm sure (coach) Daniel (Anderson) will come up with a good game-plan for us to really compete with the Dragons."

Sidelined pair Nathan Hindmarsh (toe) and Eric Grothe (virus) will return on Sunday, and Cayless is also confident centre Krisnan Inu (hamstring) will be fit.

"It's lucky we've got such a long turnaround, our physio staff will do everything to get him on the field and I'm sure Daniel will give him every opportunity to play," Cayless said.

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