Cowboys ready to tacklemystery Bulldogsthreat
EACH week Todd Payten will watch the last three games played by every team the Cowboys face when constructing his NRL game plan, but a new-look Bulldogs team will present an unknown quantity at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Sunday.
With two high-profile recruits to the spine in five-eighth Matt Burton and fullback Matt Dufty, an all-new centre pairing of Brent Naden and Braidon Burns and the addition of internationals Tevita Pangai Jr, Paul Vaughan and Josh Addo-Carr to the line-up, 2021’s form guide can be tossed out the window for this Canterbury team.
Payten has instead turned to the Bulldogs’ pre-season trial season, a 16-all tie with Newcastle and a 30-6 defeat to Cronulla, to glean key insights into his Sunday opponents.
Even then the Bulldogs have not revealed their full-strength team, leaving the Cowboys little video to analyse ahead of round 1.
“(We’ve been able to) do enough,” Payten said.
“We’ve got the two trials. We’ve pulled that apart as much as we can.
“But in the early rounds of the competition it’s just super important to get your own game right.
“They’re going to have some strengths that we have to be handling well but we also need to get our game right and that’s where our focus is.”
Payten backed his forwards to win the battle in the midfield.
“All games are won in the middle of the park. We have a big, mobile pack and four forwards on the bench and we’ll be playing down the middle of the park as much as possible,” he said.
Payten said the biggest challenge for his team this season would be themselves.
“Our only limitations are the decisions we make as an individual – on the park, away from the training pitch, around our preparation,” he said.
“We have a lot of ability and if we can continually make the best decisions for the team, we have got some capability.”