Taumalolo not just talk
Forward leader ready for huge battle in the middle
JASON Taumalolo played his best game of the year against the Sharks but is ready to take it to the next level against the Eels on Friday night.
Going head-to-head with Parramatta’s pack on Friday, the Cowboys co-captain knows his middle forwards must walk the walk and not just talk tough.
“It’s one thing saying what to do to stop it, and it’s another actually doing it,” Taumalolo declared.
“They’re running rampant through the middle, especially given their pack opposition (last week) in Joey Tapine and Josh Papalii’i.
“For the Parra pack to do that to them, that speaks volumes of how good their forward pack is.
“We’re going to have to turn up and do a good job of trying to contain them, hopefully make their big boys work and tire them out later in the game, and hopefully it’s warm enough for them too.”
Taumalolo ran for his season-high 270m, made 42 tackles, threw a Thurston-like cutout pass to set up Peta Hiku’s try and scored the all-important equaliser in the dying stages of the Cowboys’ own qualifying final a fortnight ago.
It’s safe to say the lead-byexample lock put the team on his shoulders and carried them to victory.
But the typically reserved Taumalolo insisted it was a team effort that got them over the line, finished off by a twopoint field goal from “Mr Clutch,” Valentine Holmes.
“I know I had a big performance, but as a team I thought we all played well,” Taumalolo said.
“We had to find something deep in the bag to pull it out and Chad (Townsend) did, and Val especially did too.”
Temperatures are predicted to be around 30 degrees and 70 per cent humidity on Friday.
The Tongan international said that it was only fair that the Cowboys make the most of their home field advantage. “The same thing happens to us when we go down to cooler areas, and I guess it’s like playing a reverse card, they get to come up and play in the heat,” Taumalolo said.
“We’ve trained in these conditions for a very long time, so I can only imagine how tough it would be to come up a day or two days before (the game) and then trying to acclimatise.”
The 29-year-old said his belief never falters during a game, and that as co-captains, he and Townsend’s job was to
keep the mentality of the team positive. “My job as a leader is to install that belief into the guys that we’re still in games, and that we can still hang on and get there eventually, and Chad’s exactly the same,” Taumalolo said.