O’NEILL PRIMED FOR STORM BOYS
COWBOYS LATEST
COWBOYS assistant coach David Fairleigh has backed dumped Queensland centre Justin O’Neill to prove a point as they prepare to “keep it simple” against a similarly depleted Melbourne Storm tomorrow night.
Nine players will be missing because of Maroons duty, and Fairleigh expects both teams to strip their game plan back to the basics as they deal with life without Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and company.
O’Neill was one of seven players dropped from the Queensland side thrashed 28- 4 in Origin I in Brisbane, missing eight tackles and making an error off his own line which led directly to a try.
However the availability of the experienced 26- year- old is timely for the Cowboys, who will take on the ladder leaders without Thurston, halves partner Michael Morgan, Gavin Cooper and Coen Hess.
“Juzee ( O’Neill) has been good and he’ll bounce back, he’s a quality person and tremendous player,” Fairleigh said.
“It’s Origin, it’s the way it goes. He’ll get another opportunity and he’s only young, an absolute professional.
“He’s playing against his old club in Melbourne so I’m sure he’s going to be keen to prove to everyone and himself he deserves to be there.”
The Cowboys have been without several key men in crucial spots through injury this year, and hope that experience will give them an edge at AAMI Park in the expected chilly conditions tomorrow night.
“It’s probably not ideal but coming into this situation we’ve had quite a number of times this year where we’ve been without Lachlan ( Coote) and Johnathan and Jake ( Granville),” Fairleigh said.
“We’ve probably adapted fairly well I think, ( but forward) Johnny Asiata was pretty relieved he didn’t have to play five eighth again.
“Everyone has a good understanding of how we play and we’ve had a lot of different combinations throughout the year.
“Everyone that’s playing Saturday night’s trained with us during the week for most of the year.”
Fairleigh said keeping things simple would help rookie half Kyle Laybutt ease into his NRL debut after a couple of false starts earlier in the season.
“It’s probably good for Kyle, he’s under no pressure and has had a great pre- season and has been playing well in the Queensland Cup,” Fairleigh said. “He knows everything we want from him, he goes about his work and he should go well for us.
“We’ll keep the structures fairly simple and defence is key, too. They’ve got key players out as well, so I think the mentality across both sides is defend well, minimise your errors and give yourself a chance to win.”