DERBY SMILES FOR SEND OFF
COWBOYS veteran Gavin Cooper knows the club will have no trouble putting their horror loss to Wests Tigers in the past.
And it has everything to do with the clash of the titans they face tonight.
Cooper, who joined the NRL 300-game club earlier this season, has played in 23 Queensland derbies against the Broncos but each one means just as much as the last.
But according to the second rower, this one means even more as they give 1300SMILES Stadium a final derby to remember.
“This game is one if you can’t get up for it, you are really struggling,” he said.
“Broncos at home is always a challenge, and even despite the way the year has panned out for both clubs, it will still be a big game.
“Being back at home and being a Queensland Derby, there are some guys that haven’t played a game like that before, and there are some who were on the other side of the coin. To be here at home playing the Broncos is a pretty big occasion for anyone.
“At home, Queensland Derby, the last one at 1300SMILES Stadium, it will be a big game.”
While the 28-4 loss to the Tigers was one of the Cowboys worst performances of the season, Cooper believed it boiled down to a 20-minute period where the club switched off.
“The scoreboard paints a very different picture, but it was just 20 minutes there of not very good football at all and that is the game,” he said.
But the side will be sure to put in an 80-minute performance against a willing Brisbane. In an effort that could kick start a fairytale five-straight run to the finals.
The Cowboys sit two games outside the NRL top eight and can’t afford to give up any more points on the ladder in the back end of the season.
“Going into these games (where we are on the ladder) doesn’t matter, but it does matter for the course of our year,” he said.
“We didn’t anticipate being where we are on the ladder, or putting in some of the performances we have this year.
“(But) I just always know what the crowd is going to be like (for this game). There was a five-year period where every time I played the Broncos it was golden point. I can’t remember which game is which, I just remember the ones where we end up in front.”