The NRL is rocked by another 'trainergate' scandal, a week after Penrith were slapped with a $50k fine following their game against Gold Coast

Several ex-footy players have been left baffled after another 'trainergate' incident has rocked rugby league, eight days after a Penrith Panthers trainer was embroiled in a mid-game scandal.  

On Sunday afternoon, Parramatta claimed a dramatic one-point victory against the Cowboys, thanks to a Mitch Moses field goal in the 74th minute.

With the Eels leading 19-18, the Cowboys found themselves with the ball on their 10m line.

The Queensland outfit looked to run the ball back upfield and passed the ball out wide, with Cowboys star Zac Laybutt fumbling a pass from Braidon Burns.

It bounced on the ground before hitting a trainer in the back as he ran backwards towards the goal line.

A North Queensland player dived to recover the ball, and the accidental interference from the trainer did not impact on a scoring opportunity, before the referee blew up to stop play.

‘The ball has hit the trainer. That’s trainergate,’ Michal Ennis told Fox League.

The trainer was later seen talking to a match official on the touchline.  

‘Seriously, is there any need for the trainer to be out there so early in a set,’ Andrew Voss explained.

‘What are we doing? Peter V’landys, you have work to do,’ he fumed.

‘That’s a six to eight weeker,’ Nathan Hindmarsh said, jokingly referring to Penrith Panther’s trainer Corey Bocking’s five-game suspension.

Bocking was handed the ban after he appeared to run towards Jayden Campbell as the Gold Coast Titans star attempted to wind up a set shot at goal, during the Titans’ last-gasp defeat by Penrith.

The Panthers were also handed a $50,000 fine over the incident, which Ivan Cleary said was an honest mistake.

Both the Cowboys and Eels went into Sunday's clash out of finals contention but played as if they were fighting for a playoff spot, trading tries and taking the game right to the death.

Somewhat fittingly in the final game of the NRL's Indigenous Round, a pair of tries to Josh Addo-Carr boosted the Eels.

But it was Moses' kicking game and late one-pointer that ultimately made the difference.

The Cowboys looked to have snatched an unlikely victory in the last 30 seconds when Jake Clifford crossed but the try was disallowed by the bunker for interference on Moses as he moved to tackle.

The win was another step forward in the rebuild under Jason Ryles and moved the Eels four points clear of Gold Coast at the bottom of the ladder with four matches to play, while the loss for the Cowboys increases the pressure on coach Todd Payten.

Zac Lomax opened the scoring for the Eels with a penalty goal in the sixth minute, but it was the Cowboys' Jaxon Purdue who grabbed the first try of the game 15 minutes in, pouncing on a kick from Clifford after Zac Lomax slipped in pursuit.

Addo-Carr then grabbed his double within six minutes, the latter from a deft Moses grubber, to put Parramatta up 12-8 after an entertaining first half.

It took just three minutes of the second half for the Eels to extend their lead when Will Penisini touched down, but the Cowboys returned serve when Braidon Burns scored after an intercept from Semi Valemei.

Two minutes later impressive Eels fullback Joash Papali'i spilled a bomb and Purdue capitalised to lock things up at 18-all, before Moses' heroics decided the outcome.

For the Cowboys, Jason Taumalolo and Coen Hess were immense in the middle, turning back the clock with their punishing running.

Hess might be in trouble with the match review committee, however, put on report early in the game for a dangerous tackle, diving at the legs of an already wrapped-up Papali'i.