Try from the clouds
IT WAS one huge leap for Kyle Feldt and resulted in one huge step forward for the Cowboys.
Kyle Feldt’s spectacular try on Saturday set up the Cowboys’ win and has kickstarted their run to the NRL finals. After the disappointment of losing co- captain and superstar Johnathan Thurston on Friday, his teammates showed they can still be a force with a stunning win over Penrith.
AS a junior Ethan Lowe would walk to a park in Goondiwindi, kicking tee in hand, and pretend he had a kick to win a game.
On Saturday he realised that boyhood dream, but it wouldn’t have eventuated had Kyle Feldt not copped a knock to his knee during the 14- 12 win over Penrith.
After Feldt scored a spectacular late try off a Michael Morgan kick, Lowe nailed the sideline conversion to ice a crucial win.
Normally a third- string kicker behind the injured Johnathan Thurston and Feldt, Lowe held his nerve and looks set to keep the job for a few weeks at least.
Feldt slotted two pressure kicks late in last week’s golden point loss in Melbourne, and said he would have liked to step up in the crucial moment again.
But he’s happy for Lowe to take the responsibility until his knee improves.
“He’s real arrogant about it too, as he is about everything,” Feldt joked after the game.
“I wish it was ( me) to be honest, I did one last week so it would be good to back it up two weeks in a row. I hurt the knee in the first half and it didn’t feel too stable. I told Lowey to take the rest and he stood up.”
Lowe has a career goalkicking percentage of almost 74 per cent and his gun- barrel straight kick, looking into the sun, never looked like missing.
“When I was a kid we had a footy field a couple of blocks away from us. I’d get bored so I’d take the footy and the kicking tee there,” Lowe said.
“I continued to do it every now and then and kicked a bit in the 20s.
“It’s something I should probably work on a bit more than what I do.
“Even at training the boys toss up ( game on the line) scenarios and it was pretty awesome to have one and slot it.”
Feldt said the Cowboys would not buy into talk they can’t contend for the premiership without Thurston.
“We’re going to hear a lot of outside noise about that stuff but in our close- knit group we know we’ve got a good team, with or without him,” Feldt said.
“We’ve lost Matty Scott, another one of our leaders, and we’re doing just fine.
“I think we can show the competition what we can do without them.”