Morgan doesn’t need bodyguard: Mcguire
winger and potentially unlock his express pace.
“It is an opportunity to get Drinky back into the side, he offers us so much football. He brings a lot of energy and a lot of creativity,” Hannay said.
“Hammer has not necessarily done anything wrong. I think he has been doing a good job. It is a steep learning curve for him, and he has handled it really well. I wanted to keep him and Drinky in the team, they both offer us some X-factor out there.“
Hannay revealed O’neill had to get fluid drained from his knee to take the field against the Titans, and he had given him time off to get both physically and mentally ready for a return.
Versatile forward John
Asiata will also return from injury on the bench, with Tom Gilbert dropping out of the side as last week’s debutant Emry Pere gets another chance to impress.
The Cowboys will take on South Sydney Rabbitohs at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Saturday night. The Cowboys will pay tribute to the armed forces with a commemorative jersey.
JOSH Mcguire believes Cowboys skipper Michael Morgan does not need protecting, but the coach has called on the players to do more to assist him.
In his return game from shoulder surgery Morgan was the target of a Titans barrage down the left edge.
Kevin Proctor made it his solo mission to target the Cowboys captain’s recently repaired shoulder and helped himself to a four-pointer and two try-assists.
Morgan finished with seven missed tackles and four errors in a rusty return to the top grade, but Mcguire has backed his skipper to find his feet quickly.
“He has come back from very serious shoulder injury and that is what you do in football. You go at guys who haven’t played a lot of footy. He has played one or two games in the last six months,” Mcguire said.
“He is very disappointed with his performance, he is his harshest critic. (But) I have played with him for a lot of years in a lot of rep games, and I know what he is capable of and I am excited to see him get back to his best footy.”
Cowboys coach Josh Hannay said the defensive side did not do their skipper any favours, allowing the Titans to send a volley of missiles his way each set.
“Michael had a difficult day on Sunday. What I will say about the Titans being able to target him, we made it easy for the Titans to target him,” he said.
“There has been a pile-on on Mick. That is the world we live in. But there was a lot of contributing factors that didn’t help Michael on Sunday.
“We made it really easy as a group for them to go out and isolate him. We have to be a lot better than that.
“We need to make everyone’s job in the team a lot easier by doing your own job.”
That does not mean Hannay will be hiding the skipper in the defensive line. Far from it.
Mcguire has backed the 28year-old to rise to the challenge.
“Morgo doesn’t need protecting. He is out there as one of the 17 players. He doesn’t want protection, he is more than capable of playing good football. He knows that,” Mcguire said.
“I am just excited to have him back.
“We live in a results-driven business and we didn’t get the result. The expectation is to play good, it comes with the job and the expectations of being a big club. The pressure is going to be on us as a group.
“It doesn’t matter who we play, if we play that way we are going to lose.”