Green loving grit his defence is showing
be able to win tough like that.”
No team in the NRL’s 18year history has won the title from outside the top four.
Green is adamant his side can win the title regardless of a top-four finish, but challenged his squad not to become overreliant on co-captains Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott.
Several unheralded Cowboys heeded the message, with back-rower Ethan Lowe and rookie bench forward Coen Hess scoring three tries between them to sink the Dogs.
“It’s more important to be playing well at the right time,” Green said. “I don’t think we need to finish top four to win it, but there are a lot of advantages for us given the travel component.
“We need all our younger guys to fire in the run home, we just can’t expect ‘Thursto’ and Scott to get us home.”