COWBOYS V PARRAMATTA Cooper wary of league leaders
COWBOYS veteran Gavin Cooper is preparing for a physical, attacking contest against the Parramatta Eels as North Queensland aim to establish consistency in their football.
Confidence has been raised in the side after their impressive win against Newcastle, however they will face arguably their toughest test against the ladder-leading team at Bankwest Stadium.
The absence of the blue and gold’s star halfback, Mitchell Moses, eliminates one of the NRL’S biggest ball-playing threats from the Cowboys’ concerns, but Cooper said there were plenty of other points of difference they would need to neutralise.
“I know he’s a big part of their attack, he does most of their kicking as well. Whoever comes in if he is out will have big shoes to fill, he will be a big loss but I’m sure they’ve got someone to step in,” he said.
“They have been going really well, they’ve got a big pack, I know they like to throw the ball around a bit.
“There’s lots of side to side footy in them so it’ll be a really challenging game. The travel day, it is what it is, we have to get down there, try and get the two points and come home. “It’s going to be a big test, they’re up the top of the ladder for a reason and I think they’re highest in offloads by a donkeys as well so it’ll be a very challenging game defensively.”
Slowly but surely crowds have begun to return to NRL fixtures, and the spectator numbers are set to increase again.
From the 200 corporate members permitted two weeks ago, now COVID-19 guidelines are set to ease enough to allow 25 per cent of a stadium’s capacity to witness the spectacle. But Cooper said even smaller crowds had made their presence felt.
Last week against the Knights, the just shy of 2000 people who attended Queensland Country Bank Stadium made enough noise to suggest a much larger audience, and the State of Origin stalwart said it generated the atmosphere to suggest normality was returning.
“Building the last couple of weeks I haven’t minded it, I think people make an effort to make some noise when there’s only a few there,” Cooper said.
“We had 200 or something at Gosford and they were loud, then having near 2000 on the weekend everyone makes an effort to get out of their seat and make some noise.
“Sometimes when you have 20,000 there everyone just sits on their bums a little too long. “It’s good to see for the fans to have something to do again.”