Green hoping stars back up
THE Cowboys are optimistic that Origin stars Michael Morgan, Gavin Cooper, and Coen Hess will be fit to back up for Saturday night’s clash with the Parramatta Eels in Darwin.
The Maroons trio will fly directly to Darwin following tonight’s series opener in Melbourne, where they will meet up with their Cowboys teammates for Friday’s captain’s run in the Top End.
Morgan has been named at fullback with Cooper and Hess in the back row, but Cowboys coach Paul Green said the club would wait to see how they recover before making a call on their availability.
“I don’t seem to enjoy Origin as much as I used to given we’ve got a vested interest with our players playing, but I’m sure they’ll get through all right,” Green said.
“It depends how the game pans out and each player’s involvement because anything can happen once the ball’s kicked off. We’ll wait and see and make a call on that after the game.
“They arrive ( in Darwin) 10 minutes before we do so we’ll get a good look at them and see how they pull up and then we’ll make some decisions after that.”
Cowboys co- captain Matt Scott is set to return against the Eels following a one- game ban for a shoulder charge while fellow prop Sam Hoare has retained his place in the starting side, with Scott Bolton ( rib cartilage) set to miss least another week.
Shaun Fensom, Kane Linnett, Corey Jensen, and Ethan Lowe round out the bench.
The Cowboys kept their flickering finals hopes alive with last weekend’s 26- 12 victory over the Sea Eagles, but Green said the challenge now was to keep building on that performance and post back- toback wins for the first time this season.
“I think last week was a big step in the right direction in a lot of areas in our game so we’re just looking for some improvement again,” Green said.
“I thought the young guys that came into the team did a great job so they got plenty of confidence out of that, but so did our more experienced guys.
“JT’s ( Johnathan Thurston) kicking game was bang on, Jase ( Jason Taumalolo) played the way we know he can play, so I think all of us benefited from that win last week.
“It’s important we use that as a bit of a springboard into the rest of the year.” at