‘ BAMBI’ WILL BE SHOT
THE COWBOYS’ FAIRYTALE RUN HAS NORTH QUEENSLAND FANS SUPREMELY CONFIDENT THAT THEIR TEAM CAN STAGE YET ANOTHER UPSET AGAINST THE STORM IN THE NRL GRAND FINAL. HOWEVER, SYDNEY JOURNALIST WILL SWANTON HAS A SOMEWHAT ALTERNATIVE VIEW
GO THE underdogs. Go the fairytale. Go the Jeff Horns of the NRL. Go Michael Morgan. Go Jason Taumalolo. Go Kyle Feldt. Go the glorious uncertainty of sport. Go the longshots. Go the battle- scarred warriors. Go the bravehearts. Go the North Queensland Cowboys. Go on with you: excellence is underrated.
Go the Melbourne Storm. Go the sort of cold, calculating side that will revel in shooting Bambi between the eyes at ANZ Stadium on Sunday night. Go the favourites. Go the best team in the comp. Go the bloodbath.
We can talk up the Cowboys all we like. We can call them brave. We can call them resilient. We can deliver all the praise in the world and know it is warranted. But we have to pause on the bandwagon and concede a few truths about the NRL Grand Final.
The Cowboys are a very good team about to face one of the all- time great club teams. No one has a longer memory than a beaten grand finalist. The Storm are stung by last year’s loss to Cronulla. Fuelled by it. Motivated by it. They’ve waited 12 months to avenge it.
While congratulations are being heaped on the Cowboys for getting this far, the Storm are yet to achieve anything of note. That makes them dangerous. That makes a blowout a distinct possibility.
The Cowboys have outdone themselves this year. They know it. Satisfaction tends to creep in while everyone is slapping your back. You’ll be applauded if you lose on Sunday. The desperation is fractionally lessened. A fraction is enough.
Last week’s preliminary final against Brisbane was when the Storm were ripe for the picking. The only thing that could stop their seasonlong momentum was a week off. It was forced on them by the format of the finals. They took 38 minutes to wind up against the Broncos and when they did, they put on 30 points. That was ominous.
The Cowboys got home on heart, courage, skill, good fortune and an unconvincing performance from the Roosters. We can talk all week about the miracle premiership: Morgan doing this, Taumalolo doing that, Feldt scoring the matchwinner through Platform 9- 3/ 4. But they need more and they don’t have more. They should have picked Matt Scott. Potentially, there was 109kg and 22 Tests of more.
The Cowboys are beat up. They’ve gone home to rest and recuperate. The Storm are fresh and ready to rumble. They’ve barely scratched the surface during the playoffs. They could rip in on Sunday.
Cast an eye down the team sheets in player- for- player comparisons and only Morgan and Taumalolo would definitely make a combined 17- man squad. And Morgan would have to play out of position. Not even Feldt would make it on a wing ahead of Josh Addo- Carr or Suli Vunivalu. The Storm had an Origin forward, Tim Glasby, on the bench against the Broncos.
The Cowboys’ Lachlan Coote is a very good fullback. Billy Slater is a great. Jake Granville is a very good hooker. Cam Smith is a great. Paul Green has won a grand final as coach. Craig Bellamy has won three, even if the first two were punted from the record books for salary cap breaches. Big- game experience? The Storm’s all- important spine of Slater, Cooper Cronk, Cameron Munster and Smith have played a combined 108 Tests and 94 Origins.
The Cowboys’ spine of Lachlan Coote, Morgan, Te Maire Martin and Granville have played 11 Tests and eight Origins. Three of those Tests were Coote’s appearances for Scotland. Only Morgan has played in the pressure cooker of Origin.
A common catchcry is that a champion team ( the Cowboys) can beat a team of champions ( the Storm). But what if the Storm are both? A champion team made up of champions? Cronk is on his way out the door and down the aisle in retirement. They’re ravenous to win one for the road with him. They are right where they expected to be on the last Sunday of the season.
The Cowboys are as surprised as the rest of us to be involved. We’re desperate for huge sporting events to be unscripted and of course, they are. But there’s a certain feel to some of them. A lot of them. Most of them. There’s a definite feel to this one.
Underdogs can be overrated. By every sensible barometer, it could get ugly. It would not be a tragedy. Go the minor premiers. Make it major. Go the greatest team in the land. Go the best players in the world. Go get Bambi. Give him both barrels.
Will Swanton is a senior sports reporter at The Australian. The Bulletin does not endorse the views of this column but the newspaper does respect alternative opinions – however wrong they may be.
A COMMON CATCHCRY IS THAT A CHAMPION TEAM ( THE COWBOYS) CAN BEAT A TEAM OF CHAMPIONS ( THE STORM). BUT WHAT IF THE STORM ARE BOTH?