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None of the 43,171 fans at Suncorp Stadium will forget Matt Bowen’s knockout birthday try that clinched a heart-stopping 28-26 NRL win over Brisbane last season.
Certainly not Brisbane’s players who’ll remember the diminutive North Queensland fullback peeling off the back of a scrum in the 79th minute, throwing a huge dummy, and scoring the match-winning try on his 30th birthday.
It’s why Johnathan Thurston, as great as he is, will not command all the defensive focus this week as Brisbane prepare for another Queensland derby after putting the Gold Coast to the sword last weekend.
Thurston runs the plays, calls the shots makes the big decisions.
But Bowen is a player who with his speed, footwork and genius, can pull off the magical moves.
“I can’t wait to play the Broncos. I love playing the Broncos,” said Bowen, tryless after four games, which doesn’t happen too often.
The Cowboys beat Brisbane twice in the regular season rounds before dumping them out of the finals last year.
Bowen said the smiles on the players’ faces was evidence how much they needed their 30-0 demolition of Penrith before coming up against the Broncos.
“We played well on the weekend but the Broncos is a different game, we know that,” he said.
“It will be a good challenge to see where we are at.”
Asked if the old `Mango magic” was back, he smiled and said: “I hope so. I’d like to say yes but I think that’s a bit far off yet.
“I haven’t scored a try this year. I don’t want to do what they do at the end of the season – whatever they do (nude run for players with no tries) at the end of the season,” he said.
Bowen said Thurston could only play well if his teammates did the hard work.
“If the team doesn’t play well, Johnno can’t play,” he said.
“Johnno can’t win the game himself. He has 16 other blokes there alongside him but it obviously helps when Johnno plays well.”
Thurston produced his trademark “show and go” dummy to set up a second-half try against the Panthers, a play Brisbane have to guard against, especially when fatigue sets in.
“It’s his sleight of hand, I think. The one on the weekend where he went through, the camera almost missed it as well,” said Brisbane half Peter Wallace.
Brisbane get suspended skipper Sam Thaiday back but they will need him with both Matt Scott and James Tamou hitting their straps against Penrith.
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