Cowboys on edge over new challenge
TOGETHER with winger Kyle Feldt, young centre Connelly Lemuelu has shored up the Cowboys right-edge defence.
While they got a fair workout by the Titans last week, Lemuelu knows the pair will face one of their toughest challenges yet with Rabbitohs livewires Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell launching raids down the edge.
Queensland representative Dane Gagai has been the finisher on those raids, and Lemuelu has his sights set on the flyer.
While Lemuelu might give up more than 190 games of experience to his opposite, it has not dented the confidence in the Cowboys recruit.
“We have got a pretty good edge coming our way in the likes of Cody Walker and Dane Gagai,” he said.
“We have got our work cut out for us, but I am sure if we take our form from training into the game, I am sure we will be all right.”
Lemuelu has become the second centre partner inside Feldt after Esan Marsters started the season on the right. Defensively the duo struggled, holding the worst record for a centre-wing pairing in the league, with Nrl.com revealing last week the pair ‘caused’ 34 tries in their 10 games together.
A try cause occurs when a player misses a tackle or makes a bad defensive read.
But Hannay took a punt on
Lemuelu when he took over the coaching reins and so far it has turned up trumps.
The pair refused to crack under pressure against a tough Raiders side, but admittedly struggled to contain a rampaging Titans along with Michael Morgan on the inside.
But the centre said the side had gone to work on the training paddock, and with inspirational centres in the Cowboys coaching staff the 21year-old could not have much better examples.
Josh Hannay played 150 games in the Cowboys outside backs, while head of sports science Paul Bowman is widely regarded as one of the best defensive centres to lace the boots in rugby league.
“It is pretty good having ‘Head’ (Hannay) as coach who is an ex-centre for the club and a really good player in his day, and we have ‘ Bear’ (Paul Bowman) who was a pretty good centre as well. It is great having those guys around the club,” Lemuelu said.
“You get a lot of tips on how to defend and how to attack.
“It wasn’t a really good performance on our behalf (against the Titans), we have come in this week and we have been working really hard at training. We know where we need to improve and I think we are in for a good one this week.”
While his defence might be a highlight of his game, Lemuelu said he also needed to unlock his attacking ability and in turn provide more opportunities for his outside man.