JAKE’S CALL TO ARMS
YOUNG HALF FEELS THE PRESSURE
THURSDAY’S home game can’t come soon enough for Cowboys halfback Jake Clifford, who says he “let people down” during last week’s thumping at the hands of Parramatta.
The playmaker ( pictured) struggled to find his rhythm in the face of a relentless Eels side that inflicted the heaviest defeat on North Queensland this year, and the defeat has been weighing on his young shoulders.
In the previous week Clifford had been flying thanks to a confident and sharp performance against the Knights that promised to be the catalyst for a North Queensland resurgence.
“I was definitely very disappointed. Over the weekend I was feeling very down and I feel like I’ve let people down,” Clifford said.
“Over the weekend I was feeling very down and I feel like I’ve let people down”
JAKE CLIFFORD
THURSDAY’S home game can’t come soon enough for Cowboys halfback Jake Clifford, who says he “let people down” during last week’s thumping at the hands of Parramatta.
The playmaker struggled to find his rhythm in the face of a relentless Eels side that inflicted the heaviest defeat on North Queensland this year, and the defeat has been weighing on his young shoulders.
In the previous week Clifford had been flying thanks to a confident and sharp performance against the Knights that promised to be the catalyst for a North Queensland resurgence.
“I was definitely very disappointed.
Over the weekend I was feeling very down and I feel like I’ve let people down,” Clifford said.
“I just really want to turn that around this week, and that starts today. I think the game can’t come soon enough now.
“I got to play a lot better than I did on the weekend. It wasn’t acceptable the way I played, and I know I can do better.
“I just have to let actions speak louder than words.”
Clifford managed one run for 13 metres, and coughed up three errors and a penalty, although he made 20 tackles.
It was a far different story against the Knights, with Clifford making seven runs from 79m, eight tackle busts and one linebreak – capping it with a try.
But Clifford was hardly the sole culprit in his team’s disappointing follow-up performance against the Eels.
“Disappointing’s a very good word for it,” Clifford said.
“We started pretty well in that first 10-minute period and then it all went a bit downhill from there.
“(We were) very disappointed with our right edge. We let a fair few tries in and it’s definitely not acceptable.”
The Cowboys are set to field a similar team to last week, with returning fullback Valentine Holmes saying he got through his return from injury in good shape.
Some rugby league observers hold fears over the Roosters’ long-term season prospects following their thrilling two-point loss to the Storm last week, with winger Daniel Tupou, Boyd Cordner, Jared Waerea-hargreaves and Lindsay Collins all under injury clouds.
“I haven’t read too much into it. They’ve got a lot of depth in their team,” Clifford said.
“So it doesn’t matter who they put there, they’re going to get the job done.
“I’ve got a lot of trust in the boys that we can do a job. Coming into training today we have to put that (Parramatta) performance behind us, and we really have to focus on Thursday because it is a short turnaround.
“You can’t really dwell on what’s happened.”