Cowboys to come out swinging

Our backline (outside of JT) is solid without being outstanding. But I hope O'Neil and Coote makes it more lethal. Fingers crossed Morgan and Lui don't drop off in form.

I like Winterstein. He has a great attitude and never lets us down. When we travel, many players look lethargic, but never Winters. My only criticism of him is that he is not that fast for a winger, and I feel the likes of O'Neil, Wright and J Bowen would all be quicker. And on that note, Linnett has sound, but not great passing skills, so again, we sometimes are too slow on that edge: only getting away with tries because JT is so brilliant and deceptive, and Cooper runs terrific lines. Without wanting to change too much, I think Winterstein to centre should be considered. Every time he filled in for Tate, he did a really good job and once scored a hat-trick against the Chooks playing there. Also, when he played centre, he was able to use his footwork a bit more. While he is not that quick on the wing, his pace would be good for the centre. I don't think Green will tinker with that edge, but on the other side of the field, I would like it to be Wright and O'Neil. I don't want to write off Feldt and Moga, but they are still a bit raw in defence, and need some work. Of course, them being on the same side, and alongside Lui meant we struggled defensively in the finals.

Yes agree on Ethan Lowe, very solid player and does the hard yards so deserves to get first chance. Yes, with the abundance of centres maybe there is a chance of moving one to 2nd row. Will be interesting to see who the centres for round 1 will be with most predicting Linnett/Moga. I rate Matthew Wright highly and he finished last year (before suspension) pretty well so interesting to see how he will fit in. I think O'Neil will definitely be on one wing (apparently he has blitzed all the outside backs in the speed stakes according to the coach) so if any of the centres or Winterstein doesn't perform they'll be replaced by Wright. Also where Coote fits into this back line if at all.

Equally, with Manly and Souths losing some personnel, the Dogs pack is the only forward pack in the game that worries me, but luckily, even though we don't have the greatest of backlines, we do have a Thurston factor.

I don't think that is the point. The point is that we (as a club) are out of excuses. That is probably a good thing. We are taking accountability for ourselves instead of hoping the refs or the bounce of the ball gets us a premiership. There are few Bradbury premierships, if there is such a thing. I think we get that now. We have to deserve to win something.

I am more confident in the Cowboys in finals now after the Roosters game. A terrible start (so one could argue we did not deserve to win), but we ignored that and came back. People can call the Lui knock-on whatever they want, but we absolutely went for it this time, and a flip of the coin and we would have been in a preliminary. And then, thanks to Greeny, we went against the temptation to complain, and talked about our errors in the game. In previous years, we let referee mistakes get to us. Granted, they were shockers, and without them, we may have won, but maybe if we did not get so emotional and kept our cool, we might have overcome it. I think we have a better roster now anyway. JT is older, but then again, his form in the finals and the Indigenous allstars means we might yet get another awesome season or two out of him before father time catches up.

I agree about the loss of Tariq Sims not being filled, but then again, due to injuries and suspensions, Tariq was never on the park when we needed him (including the finals versus the Roosters). So one could argue, we were missing him even when we was a Cowboy. I think Ethan Lowe will get the first chance because he is a similar player to Tariq (not as good, but not injury/suspension prone). I am not sure about Tanginoa. He reminds me of a Jason Taumololo: a great and maybe raw talent, but needs to be managed right; and needs the right people around him to compensate for his slow reading of the play in defence. Can we afford to carry both Taumololo and Tanginoa in defence? I think not... one or both will need to improve for them to be on the park together. Alternatively, we could move Kane Linnett up to the backrow (from centre) or move Scott Bolton back to the backrow (from prop) if neither Lowe, Tanginoa, Hall or anybody else can fill in the void. Scott Bolton has filled the role well before. Linnett started his Cowboys great at centre great, but although he is still good, without knowing his true playing weights, it appears he might be growing out of centre.

The retirement of Shayne Hayne is a big factor too, Thurston and Haynes relationship was like Gordies and Harrigan, something about NSW refs and QLD indigenous captains maybe?

Cowboys have a really strong squad again this year. The only gap I see not properly filled is Tariq Sims so hopefully Taginoa steps up. Also the Sims brothers brought that little bit extra aggro that is needed in the forward pack to complement head down hard workers like Scott, similar to the Sam Burgess/Ben Teo type of aggro forwards. Also they need to overcome their travel woes. I think this is a very much underestimated part of the game which I think explains why the Cowboys despite all the talent in the past few years have not won a premiership. This also applies to teams travelling up to Townsville, last year pretty much every team that went up there got flogged. Maybe to do with the change of weather, water, travel time but it just seems that this seems more of a issue than say flying down from Sydney to Melbourne or across to NZ. What is promising though is the end of last year where they managed a couple of very good wins in Sydney against some quality opposition and were within a whisker of beating the Roosters. Maybe they have found the right travel arrangement/schedule/magic water/ whatever to find some away wins. If they can cash in some of those early in the season before Origin they should be top 4 and have the best chance of getting their maiden premiership.

Yawn, is this copied an pasted from the last few years?

I'm a doggies man,however the cows scare me this year....I know its all been said before but I can just sense them being in the top 4 this year,getting a home final,then coming down to Sydney & being awfully hard to beat.Obviously it all depends on Thurstons fitness-if he's fit & firing they'll be there when the whips are cracking.

It's true every year. They do need to start strongly and get a good buffer of points because the origin period affects them badly. Also their much talked about lack of success on the road. The good thing is by recognising a problem you are part way to solving it.

They say this every year.