Cowboys must lift for brutal stretch: Coote
THE Cowboys have won four straight games but fullback Lachlan Coote says his team needs to “pull their finger out” as they prepare for a brutal home stretch that will make or break their top-four hopes.
The fifth-placed Cowboys have made their detractors – who wrote them off after Johnathan Thurston’s shoulder injury – look foolish by winning every game since the playmaker was ruled out for the season.
However, all four were against bottom eight teams in Penrith, Canberra, Souths and the Warriors, and the real test of premiership credentials awaits.
They face the secondplaced Roosters in Sydney on Saturday night before hosting ladder leaders Melbourne, a trip to resurgent Penrith and a home clash with defending premiers Cronulla.
Without Thurston the Cowboys have resolved to win games on extra effort in defence, which has transformed them into the stingiest team in the league since round nine.
They again withstood an early blitzkrieg from the Warriors on Saturday night before strangling the visitors out of the game in the second half.
However they were guilty of a few basic errors which kept New Zealand in the game, and Coote said they need to improve against the benchmark teams.
“We’ve got some tough games coming up the next few weeks, we’ve got teams in the top four,” he said.
“We’ve got to pull our fingers out a bit and not make those silly errors when we’re playing teams like that.”
The Cowboys have simplified their game without Thurston and, while it may not be attractive at times, it’s getting the desired results.
“That’s what we’ve had to do, losing that main playmaker in Thurston,” Coote said.
“It’s just that extra effort. We may not be perfect in our structure and holding our line but everyone’s showing up for each other.
“We just have to play that grinding football.”