We’re not here to make up numbers
EXCITEMENT is building here in our Cowboys camp at Olympic Park and we’re out to make the most of this exciting finals ride.
We’re not here just to make up numbers, like we were expected to.
The season could have been over after our loss to the Broncos in the last week of our regular season, but other results luckily went our way and there was a sense we had been given a second chance.
We certainly didn’t want to waste it, and our ultimate goal is to be at that big game in a few weeks time.
The build- up this week is just as exciting as last week, and while many people won’t give us a chance again tomorrow night we have our own expectations.
We’ve had those expectations all season and nothing changes tomorrow night, but with less external expectations comes less pressure.
We are happy to be here, more than anything, and we’ll be doing everything to do North Queensland proud.
My role hasn’t really changed too much. I’ve enjoyed the extra responsibility, but it comes with my role in the team.
Te- Maire Martin has been really good for us and he’s brought a different dimension to our game.
He reads the game really well and there’s no extra pressure on him either, so it’s good to have that combination with him.
Playing Parramatta is nothing new to us, we have played them twice this year, but we haven’t looked back at those games.
We lost the first game but we were carrying a few injuries, and we had a completely different spine.
We were at a point in the season where we weren’t playing too well, but we moved on.
The week at training has gone well enough.
We landed back in Townsville on Monday and on Tuesday we did some review and recovery, and our main training session was on Wednesday.
It’s not an ideal week, but it is what it is, and now we’re here in Sydney staying in accommodation right across from ANZ Stadium.
We have an extra day to settle in and we train again this morning, then it’s just a normal game- day routine tomorrow.
Card games have become a big hit among the boys lately and I’m sure we’ll be playing a few rounds of poker.
But Gavin Cooper does have an annoying habit of taking a long time to make his decisions. He takes his cards very seriously.
A big congratulations has to go out to Scott Bolton on becoming the fourth most capped Cowboys player.
Bolts plays his 204th NRL game for the club tomorrow night, which is an outstanding achievement.
Kane Linnett will also notch up a significant milestone when he plays his 150th NRL game for the Cowboys. Well done Kano.