Cowboys reign in thrilling fightback
JASON Taumalolo is adamant the plan is finally coming together for the Cowboys.
The North Queensland skipper was at his inspirational best at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Saturday night as he lifted the Cowboys to a thrilling onepoint win over the Broncos.
The emotions were running high for the Cowboys skipper, especially after he slammed the ball down over the line to level the scores with minutes to go. It was a moment he barely remembers, but will never forget.
“I guess in the heat of the moment, it seems a bit like a blur,” he said.
“All I remember is slamming the ball down and looking up and just hearing the way the crowd roared. It obviously meant a lot to a lot of North Queenslanders to see us win a tight game against the so-called ‘big brothers’.
“Toddy (coach Todd Payten) got Matt Scott, a former captain and club legend, to come in and talk to us (before the game). That really set the tone for us. When you get someone like that come and talk about what these games meant to him, it really started the ball rolling.
“The boys played on a lot of emotion, there was a lot of adversity there and playing tough and hanging on. To finally see us fight back and
grind out a one-point win was very satisfying.”
The Cowboys had been under siege from the opening whistle, spending most of the first half camped in their own half as a resurgent Broncos landed blow after blow.
But like an old-school gloveman fighting rope-adope, North Queensland just absorbed the punishment.
Three try-savers in the first half were the first telling signs for Taumalolo that they were up for the fight.
“The way we have started (this season), to finally get to where we are now and grinding out games and getting tough wins like tonight ... the first few games we were slow, but to see us put it together
and come out the way we did in a game as tight as it was tonight, it means a lot to me as a captain,” he said.
“In the past few weeks we have been starting slow and letting teams get 20-point advantages over us, but to hang in there and make it a contest for the whole 80 rather than just the last 40 was great to see.
“We are slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle together, but in saying that we still have a lot of improvement in us.”
The lock forward was at the heart of that performance, playing 70 minutes in the middle of the field.
Taumalolo finished with 223m from 20 carries with more than 70 of them coming post contact. He also finished
with six tackle busts, a line break and an offload in a performance that fired a warning shot at the rest of the competition.
“I thought all of our leaders were really good, Jase being one of those,” coach Payten said.
“He played terrific in just his third game of the season.
“We have our footy well in front of us. I still think our first halves are poor.
“We came up against a team who have so much athleticism that they are going to break tackles, but the way we covered and scrambled, it kept us in the game.
“It is another step forward, but our best footy is well ahead of us.”