HOW DRINKWATER IS BRINGING TURBO TO THE COWBOYS
COWBOYS captain Jason Taumalolo has compared utility back Scott Drinkwater to gamebreaking Sea Eagles custodian Tom Trbojevic after stunning the NRL world since donning the No. 1 jersey.
The Cowboys are flying on the back of a four-game winning streak and the best defensive record in club history to start this season, and on Sunday night will face a dangerous Wests Tigers side in the last game of Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium.
An injury to Hamiso TabuaiFidow opened the door for Drinkwater, who spent the opening portion of the season in the Hostplus Cup with the Mackay Cutters, and the 24-yearold hasn’t looked back.
His irresistible form, which goes far beyond the nine try assists, 15 tackle busts, and average of 119m per game with the Steeden tucked under his arm, has captured the attention of the NRL audience.
And Taumalolo went one step further, invoking the name of Blues gamebreaker Trbojevic when talking about his impact.
“Drinky has been unreal,” Taumalolo said. “(He) really brings that dual attacking threat with the ball and the way he runs.
“Defensively, he’s been organising the lines rally well.
“Drinky is playing with a lot of confidence at the moment, we don’t want anything to change in the way he’s playing.
“We just let him do his thing and everyone else plays off the back of him.
“He’s having that Tom Trbojevic sort of year for us, not that we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
“Drinky has a lot to improve on.”
Drinkwater, who will retain the No.1 jersey for his sixth game of the season, said he shifted gears since featuring at the back against the Warriors, a 25-24 golden point loss which is the most recent time a Cowboys game didn’t end with their team song.
He puts his improvement down to his work on defence, and with improved performances off the ball has led to the Cowboys, and Drinkwater, seeing more possession.
“One thing Toddy wants me to do is focus on is defence, setting the line, and since the Warriors game I’ve been doing it pretty well,” Drinkwater said.
“As of late, I’m starting to get my hands on the footy more in attack and calling some more plays for myself.
“All I can do is play each and every week to the best of my ability, and if I get picked again to start, then that’s the goal.”
Drinkwater said an attitude shift with experience had played a role.
“My attitude on the game is to focus is on defence, attack comes naturally so I don’t need to think too much about that,” he said.
Cairns product Tabuai-Fidow will maintain his spot on the bench for the third consecutive week.
Defence has been a clear focus at Townsville since Payten arrived as coach, and while 2021 didn’t go to plan they have shown immense improvement off the ball with this Cowboys outfit producing the best defensive record of any over the first nine rounds in club history.
It is an area that has to be up to scratch on Sunday when they face a Tigers team reinvigorated by the return of halfback Jackson Hastings, who has added a new spark to the Wests side.
Kick-off is at 6.15pm on Sunday.