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Opinion
The spare part teams that will take to the field when the Cowboys take on the Panthers on Friday night at Queensland Country Bank Stadium border on an insult to the NRL competition.
Who wins the contest is something of a coin toss.
The Panthers are without Brian To’o, Isaah Yeo, Jarome Luai, Liam Martin and Steven Crichton due to Origin selection and the Cowboys have Jeremiah Nanai, Murray Taulagi, Reece Robson, Reuben Cotter and Valentine Holmes missing for the same reason.
The somewhat unrecognisable squads named for the match have also been impacted by injury. Penrith have been without Taylan May all season after his ACL injury during the World Club Challenge and Nathan Cleary’s troublesome hamstring problem will sideline him for at least the next month.
Tom Chester would have been an ideal replacement for one absent Cowboy, yet like May, will spend the remainder of the season in ACL rehabilitation.
James Tamou is still listed as an ‘indefinite’ return to the first-grade squad, with his foot injury suffered early in the season still causing concerns.
Had Jason Taumalolo and Tyrone Peachey not been named to make their respective returns, the team lists would have offered slim pickings in terms of star quality, with Dylan Edwards, Scott Drinkwater, Kyle Feldt and Tom Dearden the best talent on offer.
Jason Taumalolo is a big inclusion for the Cowboys against the Panthers. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
The Cowboys have cobbled together a decent pack, remain stable in the halves and Penrith coach Ivan Cleary will be hoping that the Panthers’ system holds up, despite the massive changes to his regular starting 17.
State of Origin always raises questions around the three match series and its place in the calendar. Some are firm believers in a stand-along weekend for representative football, others prefer the traditional Wednesday night slot that the majority of us grew up with.
However, the second option automatically results in byes and massive squad upheaval throughout the five week period during which Origin is played and thus the potential for the type of rather head-scratching team sheets the clubs have provided for the Round 16 clash in Townsville always remains.
The fact that the match exists in every supporters mind with an enormous asterisk alongside it is concerning. In a season where teams compete for just 48 competition points (with an additional six awarded during bye rounds) and require 30-plus to even be in the hunt for semi-final action, team selection such as Friday night’s does seem to lessen the match’s credibility.
Whilst also being potentially critical for a team like the Cowboys.
Of course, both teams will rip in and give their all, yet the coffee machine talk will be less combative between North Queensland and Penrith fans come Monday morning.
Both sets of fans will be well aware that the two points won will be nothing more than a fortunate result achieved under difficult circumstances, where both teams were not true reflections of themselves.
Jarome Luai is one of six Origin stars missing from the Penrith line-up. (Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)
I’m not sure that is a positive or desirable thing for the competition.
It is a particularly challenging moment for the Cowboys; desperate for a win to keep themselves clinging on to the coat-tails of the top eight after some awful performances back in April and May against the Sharks and the Tigers.
However, perhaps it is a golden opportunity to steal two points they would normally not be expected to pinch. I guess what you see depends on where you stand and perspective could potentially define the result.
We have seen Wayne Bennett’s famous ‘Baby Broncos’ hoe this road before, as have the Storm when decimated by representative selection.
If mid-week Origin is to once again become the norm moving forward, the likelihood of the Panthers, Cowboys, Roosters, Rabbitohs, Broncos and Storm facing the challenge in the near future is high.
Whilst the draw makers and ARL Commission do their best to ease the burden as best as possible for clubs likely to be well represented during Origin, managing it perfectly is near impossible and predicting selection even more futile.
That means, what could have been a ripping clash between two star-studded teams in a prime-time Friday night slot, will instead be a match that tells us little about both, with the acquisition of the two points and the striking of a line through the match all the coaches will care about in the aftermath.
Hopefully, the teams put on a show. Yet how many neutrals will be invested in what looks like a potentially second-rate contest and whether the NRL deserves better.