Green Cowboys’ shrugs toughoff flak run Cowboys coach says criticism comes with the job when you’re losing

NORTH Queensland’s hopes of making the NRL top eight are all but gone, with the club now having to rely on other games to go their way in the final five rounds.

They will not be helped with matches against top eight sides Broncos, Panthers and Storm on their run to the end of the season.

While fans have called for the Cowboys to cut their losses and look to next season, coach Paul Green said the club was determined to finish 2019 on the right note.

He said they have also not given up on a fairytale run to the finals despite going down to the Tigers 28-4 at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday.

“You just have to look week to week. Losing (on Thursday) puts us in the hands of other results going forward,” he said.

“We can still win the rest of our games and miss out. Whereas if we had won (against the Tigers) it might not be the case.

“We just have to worry about next week and try and work out where we need to improve particularly from (that) game. I thought we started reasonably well, a couple of things went against us and we just didn’t find a way to get ourselves back in the contest.

“We are playing some good football, but we are playing some ordinary footy there at stages. We just need to play more of the good stuff.”

Green was left to lament two refereeing decisions in the first half to disallow the Cowboys tries.

A forward pass was called after Michael Morgan had put Shane Wright through a gaping hole inside the opening 10 minutes, before the video referee overturned the on-field decision to award Kyle Feldt a try late in the half.

In a decision that baffled television commentators, the video referee found a decoy run from Wright had disrupted the Tigers’ defence causing Moses Mbye to move in off his line.

While he did not blame the referees for the five-tries-toone loss, Green said the decisions had an impact on his players.

“We had two tries taken off us in that first half that were questionable in my opinion. And then that does eat away at your confidence a bit and it makes it harder,” he said.

Green helped lead the club to the NRL finals four years in a row from 2014-17 winning their maiden premiership in 2015. That 2015 grand final glory came against arch rivals the Broncos, the same side the Cowboys meet next Thursday.