Fans cop dud deal on draw

COWBOYS officials have slammed the scheduling of their final-round blockbuster against the Broncos, with the Thursday night game not expected to be a drawcard for out-of-town fans.

The NRL yesterday released the draw for the final six rounds of the season, which includes the highly anticipated showdown between North Queensland and their fierce rivals from Brisbane.

However, the Cowboys were left shocked when it was revealed they would host the Broncos on a Thursday night, making it near-impossible for a lot of fans outside of Townsville to come to the match.

CEO Greg Tonner said the club thought the game would be held in the Friday night 7.50 slot, which is the second best option for their fans outside of Saturday matches.

He said they are now instead expecting a huge chunk of the crowd to be missing.

“We were surprised ... it’s disappointing for a lot of our members who travel over 100km to come to a game,” Tonner said.

“We estimate that’s 20 to 30 per cent of our crowd that won’t be able to make it. For many years the Cowboys and Broncos derby is the biggest in our state, if not the country. We were hoping it would take the Friday main game. That way everybody wins.”

Tonner, who said he was happy with the remainder of the Cowboys’ schedule, said there had been no explanation given by the NRL as to why the game was changed from its usual Friday timeslot.

“Every club has to do Thursday nights and we’ve been asked to do this one,” he said. “We respect that we have to take our share but we have found it peculiar that our biggest game has been shifted.

“We’re sad and disappointed by the result, but we really love and cherish the support of our fans and we’d love to think they’ll find a way to get there because we need them.”

Broncos CEO Paul White, who had his own issues with the draw, sympathised with the Cowboys yesterday but said his club would do everything they could to support the massive derby, including taking sponsors up for the match.

“They’re such great games those games that they speak for themselves so I really hope they get a sellout crowd,” he said.

“The Cowboys need that and north Queensland needs that. It’s good for the economy up there. We’ll do everything we can to support that.”