Tauma- gogo
Jason to crank up power game
JASON Taumalolo has burst back to life and the Cowboys hulk says he will no longer take a back seat in North Queensland’s quest to crack the NRL’s top four.
After a lean month of form, Taumalolo exploded with a whopping 283m in North Queensland’s golden- point loss to Melbourne last week.
Coach Paul Green thrust his $ 10 million man into the front row to spark a form resurgence and Taumalolo responded with 26 runs.
The 24- year- old bolted out of the blocks in 2017 with a remarkable start to the season, picking up where he left off following his Dally M heroics of last year.
But with a mounting injury toll in Townsville, Taumalolo slowed. He struggled to show the spark that saw the Cowboys sign him to an unprecedented 10- year deal.
“At times I have not been putting myself in the game as often ( as I would like),” Taumalolo said.
“It’s been the result of a couple of ordinary efforts the last couple of months actually.
“There are a couple of little things I need to work on.
“It’s been a big season with the Four Nations last year and not having much of a pre- season probably hasn’t helped me.
“That bye two weeks ago was pretty handy and gave me some opportunity to rest.
“I’m looking forward to having a good back end of the season.”
It was always going to be difficult for Taumalolo to maintain the form he started the season with.
In round 1 he ran for 289m against the Raiders and didn’t drop below 220m in the opening six weeks of the season.
“He came out of the blocks pretty well,” Green said.
“It would be great if he could maintain that sort of form for the whole year.
“That ( form dip) happens throughout the year. It’s a long year.
“Guys are going to come into form and out of form at different times for different reasons.
“Jase has been going well the last couple of weeks.”
Taumalolo’s roller- coaster has coincided with the Cowboys having to deal with an ever- changing side.
Johnathan Thurston has only played seven NRL matches this season and prop Matt Scott, the man who takes many tough carries before Taumalolo explodes, has been missing since round 2 with a knee injury.
With forwards Gavin Cooper and Coen Hess in the Maroons Origin fold, Taumalolo’s performances will become even more valuable to the Cowboys.
“It’s important I step up through this period,” Taumalolo said. “My role won’t change too much. It’s my job to get the team on the front foot and that won’t change. I needed to do my role, but do it better than I have been over the last couple of weeks.”