THE MATCH WINNER
‘Monkey off the back’
IN WHAT has been a tough return to the NRL in 2020, Valentine Holmes finally had his day.
Signed by the Cowboys as their marquee man, the 25-yearold’s comeback from American football was met with palpable hype and fanfare.
But injuries, and North Queensland’s indifferent form, have plagued his arrival in Townsville, until Sunday night’s golden point win over St George-Illawarra.
Holmes made a name for himself with the Queensland Maroons and Cronulla Sharks with his dynamic running game and try scoring ability — two traits that have largely gone missing this season.
However he found them in spades against the Dragons.
His 141 running metres, five tackle busts, two line breaks and try were iced perfectly with his match-winning field goal.
Playing fullback in the NRL is still relatively new to Holmes, and his exposure to the position has been hampered by stints in the casualty ward.
First it was an ankle strain sustained against the Warriors, shortly followed by a syndesmosis injury which was originally expected to sideline him for 10 weeks.
And yet he returned roughly three weeks ahead of schedule, and has quickly set about building combinations with the likes of Scott Drinkwater, and positioning himself to make an impact on the game.
“It was pretty tough (being out of the team), but we’ve got a great physio and staff looking after all the boys here,” Holmes said. “We’ve obviously had a few guys who have gone down with surgeries or injuries, and they’ve done well to get us back.
“I got back a couple of weeks earlier than expected … I pretty much iced it for four weeks straight and physio treatment. I don’t know how I got back within six and a half weeks but it did well, and it’s been really good ever since.
“It’s obviously good just to get the monkey off the back … we probably didn’t know how to win a game for a while, so the boys did really well to finish well and get it there for me to get that dropkick.
“Once it went over I was pretty excited, first person I saw was Drinky and we got excited straight away.”
Cowboys coach Josh Hannay suspected Holmes had perhaps been guilty of believing he needed to create opportunities with his ball playing, as opposed to his running — something he had discussed with his custodian.
It was Holmes’ try which got the Cowboys back on level pegging with the Dragons, courtesy of some sharp work from Drinkwater.
North Queensland’s spine has undergone several changes in 2020, due to injuries and form.
In spite of a few simple errors, Holmes, Drinkwater and Jake Clifford showed signs at Queensland Country Bank Stadium they were finally developing a strong rapport.
“Drinky’s really good, he plays off the cuff as well as within the structure of our game plan,” Holmes said.
“He pretty much just told me to run it on the inside (for his try), and I thought he ran away from me but he bounced back and threw it to me in the gap.
“It’s stuff like that where it’s not a set play, it’s just something we know within in each other.”