The Sydney Roosters’ NRL pain could turn into more woe for NSW after the visitors suffered a 42-10 mauling by North Queensland and had Blues hopeful Boyd Cordner hobble off with an ankle injury.
The defending premiers had plenty to play for at 1300 Smiles Stadium following a week in which halfback Mitchell Pearce was stood down and fined by the club after a drunken night in Kings Cross.
But it became a seven-day period to forget for the Roosters who were comprehensively outplayed and also picked up an injury concern.
Cordner limped off in the 32nd minute after a clash with Brent Tate that left him with a suspected syndesmosis injury that could cost him up to six weeks on the sideline, meaning he’d be unavailable for the entire Origin series.
It follows Blues 2013 teammate Pearce’s well-publicised issues that have left coach Laurie Daley pondering his selection while injuries have already ruled out NSW potentials Andrew Fifita and Glenn Stewart.
Greg Bird has been suspended for Origin I.
While the Roosters wilted Johnathan Thurston delivered some milestone magic, his 200th game in Cowboys colours in front of 15,361 fans in Townsville one of his best.
Thurston, a certainty to be named for Queensland on Monday night to play his 28th Origin, laid on three tries, kicked seven goals and scored a try of his own.
He kicked perfectly for Tariq Sims to impersonate Superman with his comical swan dive over the tryline, wrong-footed makeshift half Sonny Bill Williams to put Kane Linnett over for his second try and threatened with every touch of the ball.
The game was all but over at halftime as the Cowboys raced out to a 30-6 lead.
Linnett bagged a hat trick while Thurston, Sims, Tate and Matthew Wright all scored tries in the rout.
It was also the third straight win for the resurgent North Queenslanders, who languished near the bottom of the ladder after posting just two wins in the opening seven rounds.
There was further insult for the sloppy Roosters with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck put on report for a high tackle on Linnett in the 50th minute.
john badseed
Guest
Or more paper bags
Elma Dudd
Guest
I thought minis disallowed try was a joke as it should have been a penalty for tupou being interfered with , but they had something like a 50% completion rate and the cowboys were over 90% . Same scenario last week against the tigers reserve grade . The chooks have a lot of work to do if they are to feature in September & October .
Judge Holden
Roar Guru
Or did the Rooster's players perhaps influence the result?
john badseed
Guest
Surely the ref influenced the result in some way.
BrumbyJack
Guest
The Cowboys are starting to gather some serious momentum, it's just a shame the Origin period is around the corner. Can they continue their winning ways without Thurston, Tate, Scott, Tamou and perhaps Sims? It will be a huge test of their depth and also coach Paul Green. More luck to them though, they are a great team to watch.
Elma Dudd
Guest
Mr Robinson has some work to do at Bondi .. Sonny Bill Butterfingers is a shadow of his former self and there is limited creativity from anyone else . I don't think I've seen the chooks play one game this year where they have looked more than 60% if there best last year . Best thing that could happen is MP and JM missing SOO selection to hopefully get some rhythm over the next few weeks . Having said that I think the cowboys look like a genuine threat if they can get through the rep season unscathed .. Put JT in a blue jersey and the 8 nil result would be reversed.