MORGAN HAILS JAKE’S PROGRESS
MICHAEL Morgan says rookie half Jake Clifford won’t have to take a back seat when the Cowboys captain returns from a concussion against the Wests Tigers on Thursday night.
Morgan has been cleared to reclaim his No.7 jersey after missing North Queensland’s past three matches due to an unfortunate series of head knocks.
The representative star was knocked out twice in the space of just 12 days, and while Morgan said he felt no ill effects, he was still forced to sit out under the NRL’S concussion guidelines.
Clifford stepped up as chief playmaker in Morgan’s absence as he inspired the Cowboys to a stunning 15-12 victory over reigning premiers the Roosters with a last-minute field goal.
The 21-year-old struggled to close out their next two games as the Cowboys went down to the Rabbitohs (30-18) and Sharks (16-14), but Morgan felt Clifford would be better for the experience.
“It’s not an easy thing to do to come into first grade when you haven’t played a lot of it before,” Morgan said.
“He had the responsibility of getting us around the field and also goalkicking, so there were a few little extra things that he probably wasn’t used to at first grade level and he’ll learn from it.
“He did some really good things. The Roosters game is probably a perfect example of how good he can be for us and then the next challenge for him is to do it more consistently and week to week.
“Hopefully (with me) coming back into the team ‘Cliffo’ hangs on to those good things – and I’m sure he will.”
Morgan expressed his frustration at having to watch from the sidelines and said he was determined to help the Cowboys build some finals momentum over their last six games of the regular season.
“At no point this year have we had the momentum. I think we’ve strung three wins together once this year and that’s the most,” he said.
“I have a lot of confidence in the group.
“Just watching for the last two weeks the majority of the games we were the better team and unfortunately we’ve nearly got a bit of a habit of once we get the lead we’re just trying to protect it a bit too much and worrying about doing the wrong thing.
“It’s important that we’re focused each week and hopefully six weeks down the track we’re sitting with a fair few more wins and we’re not just scraping into eighth spot, we’re comfortably in there.”