Isaiah Iongi has helped Parramatta overcome the absence of their two biggest stars and post a 36-20 defeat of Gold Coast in the clash of the NRL's battlers.
First-choice halves Mitch Moses (calf strain) and Dylan Brown (suspension) watched from afar as breakout fullback Iongi laid on three tries and proved the difference before 8074 fans - the Eels' smallest home crowd since pandemic restrictions.
Sunday night's win will encourage the rebuilding Eels as they face at least three more weeks without Moses, having floundered in his absence to begin the season.
Eels coach Jason Ryles had been unaware his side would have slipped from second-last onto the bottom with a loss.
"I don't check the ladder and I don't check social media. Genuinely all we're worried about is how we're going to get better every single day," he said.
"(But) it's good. Last sucks.
"Right from the start of the game we were threatening with our attack.
"Then we got some periods of time there where we self-inflicted and had to defend and we did it for the most part."
The Eels have jumped South Sydney into 15th spot on the ladder and left the Titans two points adrift in last.
Making matters worse for the Gold Coast, they will be without halfback Jayden Campbell when they fight to turn things around against an equally desperate North Queensland next week.
Campbell collected Sam Verrills' knee as the pair attempted to tackle Dylan Walker in the first half and was deemed to show category-one head-knock symptoms.
"He's OK," said Titans coach Des Hasler.
"We've got young Tommy Weaver there. Tommy will come in and fill that role, at first thought anyway, if JC (Campbell), which is more than likely, is not to play (against the Cowboys)."
Campbell's absence left goal-kicking duties to second-rower Beau Fermor, who had never kicked a goal at first-grade level before Sunday night.
He managed only one from three attempts, the inaccuracy hindering the Titans as they attempted to fight back from 18-6.
Iongi put Sean Russell in for his side's first try with a mammoth cut-out pass down the left side, and had a hand in another when AJ Brimson fumbled his bomb into the arms of Charlie Guymer.
The fullback put Dean Hawkins over in the second half, his grubber kick bouncing from the goalposts and straight to the replacement halfback.
"(Iongi) is a quiet, laid-back kid, works really, really hard, diligent in the detail of his game. He's a fast learner," Ryles said.
"He's improving every week."
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for Iongi. He threw an intercept to Alofiana Khan-Pereira, who belted 90 metres to bring the Titans within two points at the break.
Khan-Pereira's second try again made it a one-score game in the second half, before Will Penisini crossed twice in four minutes down the right side to seal the Eels' fifth win of the Ryles era.
"I expected a better performance than what we showed tonight," Hasler said.
"We were really conscious, particularly last week, of limiting that negative play and on the back of some of that negative play, it's just the pressure that builds."
Penisini went to the sin bin in the final two minutes for a dangerous throw on Fermor and could face scrutiny from the match review committee.