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Perfect Storm lasso Cowboys, again

Roar Rookie
9th April, 2012
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Back in 2006 the Cowboys managed to do something unusual: they beat the Melbourne Storm. Come to think of it, they didn’t just beat them – they flogged Melbourne 40-8 in what was one of the Storm’s four losses for the season.

The Cowboys were truly riding high at the time, backing up from the 2005 grand final loss to destroy Brisbane 36-4 at Lang Park in round one. They topped the table until round 10 (when they next met Melbourne).

It was too good to last.

In round 10, Melbourne won 18-6. This match kickstarted two losing streaks: the Cowboys went six matches without a win against any team, and they wouldn’t beat Melbourne until 2011.

Coming into last weekend’s match, both teams were in form that typifies the recent records of both teams. The Storm clinically disposed of all in their way in 2012, building a 5-0 record. The Cowboys, on the other hand, have had a rollercoaster LWWLW record, showing flashes of quality and flashes of much less.

The game started well for the Cowboys. 200-gamer Aaron Payne put in a nice little grubber kick for Matt Bowen to open the scoring, only for Melbourne to quickly reply. The Storm then put their foot down.

I was keeping up to date on Twitter and the NRL website; every time I tried to listen online Melbourne managed to score another. Likewise, the radio was off when Gavin Cooper scored to keep the half-time score to 12-16.

For Cowboys fans, the less said about the second half the better. Melbourne ran in five tries to one as the Cowboys imploded in a similar way to last year’s semi-final against Manly.

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While Melbourne are deservedly one of the competition front-runners, the Cowboys need to put together a stronger 80-minute performance if they’re any chance of seriously challenging for the premiership.

And hopefully not take another eight games to beat Melbourne again.

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