Old mates put their friendship on hold
THEY played 370 games for the Cowboys between them and played in two grand finals together, but now North Queensland legends Aaron Payne and Ty Williams are going head to head.
Payne will coach the Townsville Blackhawks against Williams’s Northern Pride outfit in tonight’s Queensland Cup derby in Cairns, where a Pride team featuring Cowboys allocations Jake Clifford and Enari Tuala have taken the Q Cup season by storm after going unbeaten after two rounds.
“I never thought I’d be coaching against Payney,” Williams said. “It is pretty interesting when you think about it, but Payney’s done a lot of coaching now and he’s doing terrific things.
“You can see it with how his team has been playing. He has them going well and I’ve got no doubt this will be our toughest test.”
Payne played 219 firstgrade games for the Cowboys and retired in 2012, and Williams called it a day in 2010 after making 151 appearances.
They were part of the Cowboys’ breakout years starting in 2004 when the Cowboys played finals for the first time, and were part of North Queensland’s 2005 grand final team.
“It would be good to get one up on him (Williams),” Payne said.
“But I want my team to perform well and get a win, and I want that more so than having bragging rights.
“Ty has been doing a great job with the Pride.”
Payne said there it was unlikely there would be late changes made to the team he named earlier this week, with Cowboys under-20s product Sam Murphy filling the shoes of Shaun Nona, who is set to miss up to eight weeks with a hamstring injury.
The Blackhawks are coming off a season-first 24-16 loss to Tweed Heads, who punished the Blackhawks for an array of handling errors. The Pride enter tonight’s clash having thumped the PNG Hunters 24-0 in Port Moresby, which followed their four-point win over premiers Redcliffe in Round 1.
“Our completion rates have to be better, simple as that,” Payne said.
“We’re sitting at around 50 per cent in our completions and at this level that’s not good enough.
“Defensively we need to take control around the ruck and slow their momentum.
“The Pride play a basic brand of footy but it’s very effective.”
The Pride have a talented backline featuring Cowboys allocations Jake Clifford, Enari Tuala and Gideon Gela-mosby, and take on a handful of Blackhawks players who have recently left NRL systems including Kyle Laybutt, Shaun Hudson and Sam Hoare.
“There’s plenty of great match-ups,” Williams said.
“Cliffo against (Blackhawks halves pairing) Michael Parker-walshe and Kyle Laybutt is a good one, and the same for ‘Narz’ (Tuala) against Hudson.
“It will be an interesting one because those Blackhawks guys (Laybutt and Hudson) have come out of an NRL system, and Cliffo and Narz are still there.’’