Cowboys alert Hosts ready for Penrith attack
THE North Queensland Cowboys are adamant they won’t be caught off guard by the razzle dazzle Penrith Panthers at 1300SMILES Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
Conditions are expected to be perfect for attacking football in the first day game in Townsville since 2007, which could play right into the visitors’ hands.
The Panthers have surged into the top eight on the back of a four- game winning streak as coach Anthony Griffin has given his players the freedom to throw the ball around.
Penrith throw an average of 11.4 offloads per game with their unpredictable attacking style, which is in stark contrast to the Cowboys, who are ranked last in the competition with just 5.7.
The Cowboys play a much more structured game, favouring high completion rates for which they lead the league, but backrower Ethan Lowe urged his teammates to expect the unexpected against Penrith.
“It’s one of those weeks where you’ve got to be ready for anything they throw at you,” Lowe said. “They love to play that unstructured style. They love to try and push those offloads and just push into holes and see what happens. I think you’ve just got to be switched on for every play. With them, the ball’s never dead. You’ve just got to keep moving and stay together in that line and try and defend it.”
The architect of Penrith’s stunning form has been fullback turned five- eighth Matt Moylan, who has two tries, three try assists, three linebreaks, and four linebreak assists in his past two matches.
Cowboys fullback Lachlan Coote said Moylan had shown his class since shifting to the halves, but he was confident North Queensland’s defence could shut down the Panthers skipper.
“He’s classy with the ball in his hands and I think the more he gets the ball the better they look. I think it was a good move for him, but we’ll ob- viously test him fence,” Coote said.
“We just need to be clinical in our defence and wrap that ball up. They like getting second- phase footy and they’re pretty unstructured with the way they play.
“They just play off the top of their head. It’s hard to defend against that, but I’m sure if our attitude’s there and we’re all switched on, willing to win those tackles, then I’m sure we’ll be right.”
Coote grew up in the Penrith area and played 83 NRL games for the Panthers before moving to North Queensland and said he always had a little extra incentive against his former club.
“It’s always good to come up against your old club, especially when that’s the only other club I’ve been to,” Coote said. “They’re playing some good footy and starting to find their straps so it will be a good hit- out.” out in de-