NRL ROUND 8 Cowboys all set for 500kg Eels wrecking ball
MORE than 500kg of collective wrecking ball will be streamlining for the Cowboys halves on Friday night.
But according to Scott Drinkwater, it is not a challenge they are shying away from — it is one they are relishing.
The North Queensland scrumbase have been steadily building their combination, and turned in arguably their best performance of the season against the Newcastle Knights on Saturday.
Now they are chasing a snowball effect and hoping the 32-20 win inspires a run against some of the NRL’S title heavyweights. That resumes against the Parramatta Eels this week, and Drinkwater said being brave in defence against the likes of Junior Paulo, Ryan Matterson and Reagan Campbell-gillard would be integral to their success.
Armed with the knowledge he and Jake Clifford would be targets, he said there was no shying away from it — get in and get it done.
“You’ve got to embrace it if you’re in the frontline. You’ve got to have the mentality of going for the tackle otherwise you’re not really going to make the tackle, you’re not going to be confident and have the mindset to make it,” Drinkwater said.
“You always want to be better defensively. In the frontline as a little bloke you’re going to get the big boys running at you so you’ve just got to get in front, stick and wait for the cavalry to come.
“They’re killing it, they’re big bodies everywhere and they’re just running hard and fast … we just have to stick our tackles in front of their big boys and slow their momentum down.
“Both their backrowers at the moment are killing it, so it’s a big task for Cliffo and I on the edges there to make our tackles — they’re on fire.”
A key point of the Cowboys game plan against the Knights was nullifying the impact of Queensland State of Origin fullback Kalyn Ponga.
Drinkwater and Clifford made a habit of kicking for the sideline in order to eliminate the dynamic No. 1 the chance to unleash his explosive running game.
It worked a treat, with the former Cowboy registering only 73 metres in an uncharacteristically quiet performance.
Now against the Eels, North Queensland will face a backline brimming with size and confidence — with the likes of Clint Gutherson, Blake Ferguson and Maika Sivo all devastating with the ball in hand.
While Drinkwater said they may adopt the same plan of attack, the blue and gold outfit would be a different beast to deal with.
Their rivals in the back three may all be potent threats, but the Cowboys five-eighth said the attacking arsenal at the Eels’ disposal meant they could not restrict their focus — even in the absence of star playmaker Mitchell Moses.
“Obviously they’ll miss him, they got the job done without him last week though. It is a big loss for them, but at the same time Gutherson stood up for them last week and was a key player — set up a few tries and kicked a field goal,” Drinkwater said.
“They’ve got Sivo and Ferguson who are unreal, they’ve got some of the most run metres in the comp, and Gutherson is an energy player who will bring the ball back hard.
“Most of their key players get early ball and are pretty good at beating defenders oneon-one.
“Their backrowers run hard lines with good offloads, Paulo is a really good ball player in the middle — he’s like a fiveeighth and he’s huge.
The Cowboys will travel to Bankwest Stadium on Friday to take on the Eels at 7.55pm. by Hamiso Tabuai-fidow, who scored his first NRL try in the weekend’s win against Newcastle.
North Queensland coach Paul Green said it was too early to determine whether Holmes would assume his spot in the team, nor was it the time to finalise who would drop out of the side if his return eventuated.
But he said if Holmes was