A shattered Johnathan Thurston rated his miracle comeback for the Cowboys in the NRL on Friday night as `not good enough' with the North Queensland club going down to Parramatta 24-18 in Townsville.

Initially feared to be sidelined for three to four weeks, it took just 13 days for the Cowboys skipper to overcome a muscle tear in his troublesome shoulder and return to action.

It wasn't enough though, with the club forced to undertake some serious soul-searching after a less-than-inspiring 2-5 record to start their campaign.

Thurston took a knock to his leg during the second half which had him limping around the field, but it's not considered to be serious and he will be fit for Saturday's clash against the Storm.

"The shoulders fine, I've just got a sore leg," he said.

"(But) it's worse when you lose."

Despite the injection of the Australian halfback, the Cowboys could not control the tempo of the game in the first half, allowing the Eels to skip out to a 12-0 lead.

While they were able to fight their way back into the match, a dejected Thurston shouldered much of the blame for the 50 per cent completion rate.

When asked how he rated his comeback he said: "Not good enough".

"50 per cent (completion rate), it wasn't much better in the second half," he added.

"Our kicking game sort of let us down, they had a bit more better field position.

"Their halves probably controlled the game a bit better than what we did." Thurston said individual errors would need to be stamped out of the Cowboys game if they were to be a threat in 2010 after nine mistakes blunted their chances again on Friday night.

"Confidence is down," he said.

"The one thing we do have is a hard working bunch of blokes from our coaching staff right through to our players.

"It's just a lack of concentration from individuals that's letting us down.

"We'll prepare well again, we just need to get the two points."

Making matters worse, prop Carl Webb (ankle) and James Tamou (shoulder) are in doubt for the round eight clash against the Storm.

The club is already missing Aaron Payne (ankle), Matt Bowen (knee) and Luke O'Donnell (suspension).

"(Webb) has jammed it up a bit at the back so he couldn't come back on," coach Neil Henry said.

"Jimmy Tamou has sub-laxed his shoulder and was a bit sore as well so we're a bit banged up."

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