Plane to be shot down
O’Neill backed to do it twice
COWBOYS forward Jason Taumalolo has backed Justin O’Neill to ground the Hayne Plane twice in four days as they look to turn around a home record they’ve previously dubbed “embarrassing”.
O’Neill ( right), considered lucky by some to retain his Queensland Origin spot after a less than spectacular start to an injury disrupted year, will mark Hayne in Origin tomorrow night before they lock horns again in Townsville on Saturday night.
While he is yet to score a try this year O’Neill has returned to his defensive best after three weeks out with a hamstring injury.
It will get a stern test against the two- time Dally M medallist this week, but Taumalolo has backed him to shut Hayne down.
The Maroons also believe they can expose regular fullback Hayne in the centres, which Manly did on occasion in their win over Gold Coast last week.
The Cowboys beat the Titans on the Gold Coast in round four this year, but the hosts’ large injury toll included New South Wales representatives Hayne and Nathan Peats.
“Obviously Jarryd Hayne will give them that extra dimension in their play and off ( halfback) Ash Taylor and the big middle forwards, they’re definitely a better side than when we played them earlier,” Taumalolo said.
“Marking Jarryd Hayne will obviously be a big task for him and I think attack- wise ‘ Juzie’ ( O’Neill) can outsmart him, he’s got a bit of pace on him so it’lli be interesting to see how thingst unfold on Wednesday.”
The Cowboys are hellbent o on improving their home record on Saturday night after already dropping three of six games at 1300SMILES Stadium this season.
They lost just once in Townsville last year and after a lethargic loss to Parramatta earlier this year, Cowboys prop Scott Bolton branded their home form “embarrassing”.
“Home is where we pride ourselves and we’ve had a pretty good record here the last couple of seasons, it’s disappointing having three losses early this year,” Bolton said.
“What’s more disappointing is we lost those games ourselves. The teams that travel up here know how much of a tough game it is and a couple of games there we’ve let them off the hook.”
The Cowboys head into the weekend seventh on the ladder with a 6- 5 record, and could drop out of the top eight should they lose to the Titans.
“We have to be a whole lot better in front of our home fans,” Bolton said. “They’re ( Titans) a team who are never out of the game.”