COWBOYS TACKLE A NEW REALITY
NORTH Queensland coaching staff have eased players back into full contact work after the club was given the green light for tackling in training yesterday.
It was a welcome approval for the club with concerns a longer wait could put players at risk when the NRL season resumes on May 28.
Cowboys director of football Peter Parr confirmed the first session back to contact was positive for the players and that the club would continue to build the workload as the restart neared.
“It was good news (getting to start contact work), if you went too far past today it starts to get problematic given the season is only two-and-a half weeks away,” Parr said.
“(Cowboys coach Paul Green) Greeny was happy with how the session went. They were eased back into it – they hadn’t done contact for a long time. We didn’t want to go from zero to 100 straight up. It will be a progression phase back to what we were doing (before the shutdown).
“I think (injury risk) is the concern for everyone starting two-and-a-half weeks out. I suppose the flip side is it is the same for everyone and the players started from a good base after doing a full pre-season.”
While he admitted it will be a balancing act for the coaches in how they structure the next two weeks of training, Parr said he had “full faith” in the Cowboys coaching staff.
“We are in very good hands with our coaching staff – no doubt they will get it right,” he said.
“We have a lot of faith those blokes will get it right.”
The next hurdle for the club will be getting a revised draw from the NRL.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys said he expected a draw to be released by the end of this week.
For the clubs it is imperative that happens. “Given that on Thursday it will be two weeks you would hope that draw is not far away – because it will dictate your training,” Parr said.