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The North Queensland Cowboys are through to the NRL grand final after a 13-point roller coaster victory over the Sydney Roosters in the second preliminary final at Allianz Stadium.
Against all the odds, Paul Green’s men have pulled off three upsets in a row to book their spot in the grand final against the Melbourne Storm next Sunday.
Michael Morgan again led from the front for the Cowboys. His kicking game was superb from start to finish, landing everything in the corners and ensuring the Roosters back three never had room to move.
It was a Morgan 40/20 that broke the deadlock of a fast start to the game. It was going set-for-set until Morgan put a regulation last tackle kick downfield to get the ball back.
The kick sparked a run of momentum for the Cowboys, who spent almost all of the next quarter of an hour with the ball. While they could only turn it into eight points, the Roosters looked fatigued in defence.
An Ethan Lowe penalty goal got the scoring underway with Latrell Mitchell putting the kick-off out on the full following.
The Cowboys then dominated, before Te Maire Martin put on a show of acceleration and speed to burn the defence and run away to score off a Morgan short ball.
The Martin try had the Cowboys well on top, but the Roosters finally got the ball back and were right back in the contest at halftime with a try from nowhere.
A Mitchell Pearce crossfield kick cleared the Cowboys edge defenders – Kane Linnett and Kyle Feldt – with the ball falling into the lap of Latrell Mitchell who went over to score.
The Roosters were behind two at the break, but an error on the first play of the second half had the tri-colours back on the attack with Connor Watson cruising over to score six minutes later.
It was a topsy-turvy second half though, with the lead changing hands multiple times. Kane Linnett scored next for the Cowboys, before Blake Ferguson scored in the 61st minute off an error to put Sydney back into the lead.
The Cowboys though simply refused to go away. Kyle Feldt scored a miraculous try 14 minutes from time with Ethan Lowe’s goalkicking ensuring they kept the lead, before Michael Morgan iced it with a field goal a few minutes from time.
A Scott Bolton try on the bell capped off a wonderful night for the Cowboys, who advance to their second grand final in three years.