We are past the halfway mark for this season’s NRL competition, and the biggest disappointment has been the performance of the North Queensland Cowboys.
They may be above the Parramatta Eels on the ladder, but the Eels were not considered premiership contenders at the start of the season. So where has it all gone wrong for the Cowboys this year?
The key reason the North Queensland club has struggled this season is down to the failed attempt of replacing the recently retired Aaron Payne.
One of the most important positions in a rugby league team is the dummy-half role. Every attack starts with the ball in the hands of the dummy-half, so it is vitally important for every NRL club to have an experienced and highly skilled hooker.
The current top four of the NRL consists of clubs which all have a quality dummy-half.
You have both the Australian and New Zealand international hookers, Cameron Smith and Issac Luke, for Melbourne and South Sydney respectively.
There’s Matt Ballin from the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, who has also played one State of Origin match for Queensland, and would have featured in more if not for the previously mentioned Smith ahead of him in the pecking order.
Last of all, we have Roosters dummy-half Jake Friend. An underrated player in my view, who has played over 100 matches for the club in five years, meaning he has a good relationship with his fellow teammates.
When news of Payne’s retirement was announced, it was important that the club replaced him with a quality hooker to fill his boots. Unfortunately the player every Cowboys fan felt would be a worthy successor, James Segeyaro, had already signed for the Penrith Panthers for next season.
So North Queensland recruited two possible replacements for the dummy half position, Englishman Scott Moore and Rory Kostjasyn from the Melbourne Storm.
They joined Anthony Mitchell, a mid-season recruit from last season, and Ray Thompson as the four candidates to fight for the hooking role.
Moore and Kostjasyn featured early in the year as the starting hooker, but unfortunately for both players they did not seem to have what it takes to cement the position.
The Englishman seemed to struggle with the intensity of the NRL compared to the Super League back in England. As for Kostjayn, defensively he was very strong but in attack there seemed to be no spark.
Anthony Mitchell had an error-riddled start to the season, so it is hard to tell whether he is up to the task of becoming the regular dummy-half at the Cowboys.
Then we are left with Ray Thompson, a player who for most of his league career has featured in the halves, but has now been thrown into the hot seat of being the number nine.
His great link-up work with Robert Lui and Johnathan Thurston in the previous Cowboys match shows he may be the one to make the dummy-half role his own. Hopefully for Cowboys fans he can build on from this previous performance, and continue to impress.
However, if this unfortunately does not happen there a few players available on the market for next season that the Cowboys may want to look at – Kevin Kingston, Joel Romelo and Matt Keating just to name a few.
But a player from left field and someone who has grabbed my attention is New Zealand Warriors’ Under 20 player, Siliva Havili.
A powerful hooker and quick off the mark, he has represented Tonga as well as winning the National Youth Competition (NYC) with the Warriors back in 2011.
Whichever way the Cowboys go with – either sticking with Thompson and giving him the remainder of the season to get used to the role or recruiting in the off-season – the improvement of the dummy-half position has to be the main priority for the Cowboys next season in getting back to winning ways.
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