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Scott Drinkwater produced a moment of improvised magic to deliver the Cowboys a dramatic 27-23 win over Penrith in a rollercoaster clash in Townsville.
North Queensland had fought back from 22-12 down, then thought they had won it in normal time, before eventually getting the points after Chad Townsend, then Tom Dearden, then Drinkwater turned down field goals attempts.
The fullback, instead, decided to run through multiple Panthers to score the try. Todd Payten might ask how his team ended up in the situation where they needed such an unlikely winner, but in the moment, he won’t care.
“I’ve pleased to get away with the win,” said the coach. “The game was a good contest, we got punched in the face a couple of times. We were down eight points at half time and I challenged the lads to stand up and they fought very hard.
It could have been curtains for the Cowboys’ season, but the win keeps it going. Payten rated the win as even better than the recent thrashing of Melbourne.
“It’s right next to that, maybe even ahead of it,” he said. “Given that we were eight points down at half time and the way the last five minutes unfolded. If that goes against us, we’d have to really regroup.
“We dug deep and made tough decisions individually and as a team and that’s why we’re sitting here celebrating.”
These games, hidden away in the middle of Origin with mass absentees, can be something of a chore for even the most hardened of fans.
Both sides were missing five players to Origin camps, plus a fairly large sporting event began at exactly the same time, but anyone who turned in was served a treat.
It was a wild, see-sawing clash, with the lead changing hands multiple times, a dogfight to finish and a spectacular try to win it.
Both halfbacks came in with their own narrative and owned their moments: Townsend has spent the week batting away questions about his future in Townsville, but came up big to put his side ahead, before Jack Cogger, deputising for the injured Nathan Cleary, answered back with seconds remaining.
Jason Taumalolo, on return from injury, also played his role. It was his strong carry – off a Tyrone Peachey error – that looked like it had created the field goal opportunity. The Cowboys didn’t take it, but got the try instead.
“We were in a position to win that game and we opened the door in various ways and got what we got,” said Ivan Cleary.
“At 22-12, we offered up opportunities and weren’t resilient enough defensively. It’s not what we’re about, I’m a little disappointed with that.
“Both sides wanted it badly and the effort, both coaches will be happy on that front.”
Dearden’s Origin plight was somewhat lost in Game 1, with the Cowboys half named as the 18th man for Queensland and thus unable to play for his club, who subsequently lost to Parramatta.
Payten was, to say the least, not pleased. This time around, he was left out of the Maroons squad so that he could play in this game – AJ Brimson, with the Titans on the bye, was brought in – and didn’t let the opportunity go begging.
The five eighth had a hand in multiple Cowboys tries: it was he who made the break from which Drinkwater opened the scoring, he who scored the hosts’ second and he who fired the long ball that allowed Kyle Feldt to level the scores with a quarter hour to go.
It’s hard to remember that he’s just 22 and yet has a win in an Origin decider and over 70 NRL games to his name, dating back to 2019. Tom Jenkins, in just game 2 for the Panthers, is three days younger than him.
It’s a strange situation for the five eighth. Clearly, he’s the second best option that Queensland have in his position, and by rights could and perhaps should have been selected for Game 2.
But it also does nobody any good for him to sit and watch games on the outside chance that someone goes down hurt – or catches Covid, as Cam Munster did last year.
It certainly doesn’t do any good for the Cowboys here, as Dearden was their best player tonight and is close to it most weeks. They need him more than Queensland at the moment.
“I’m glad he’s in our team,” said Payten. “I know the players love playing with him and playing for our club means something to him.
“Winning footy games means something, playing in the NRL means something, he doesn’t take a thing for granted and works his butt off.”
Dylan Edwards is so underrated he’s overrated. Either he’s the great ignored man of rep footy, stuck behind too many superstars and unrecognised, or he’s the ideal system player, elevated above his station by being a good cog in a great machine.
For those who subscribe to the second theory, tonight was an interesting performance. It’s rare that we see Edwards shorn of the other three more illustrious members of the spine.
In the absence of Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai and Isaah Yeo, Ivan Cleary challenged his fullback to take on a more senior role in the playmaking, and he certainly did that.
The knock on Edwards is that he’s a highly functional fourth part, a great defender and runner elevated to star status by the collective effort of others.
Drop him in another side, without three Origin level playmakers, and he’d go right back into the pack. Most competent fullbacks would look like worldbeaters in his situation.
Tonight, however, he showed a previously unseen level of craft and creativity, with an attacking showing that Scott Drinkwater – almost an anti-Edwards in terms of his fullback skillset – would have been proud of.
Edwards was carrying the ball to the line, challenging inside defenders like a half and creating space out wide – and all the while, still doing the nuts and bolts stuff that he does every week.
It’s probably not going to bring him any higher than where he currently is, but with James Tedesco edging towards the latter part of his Origin career, it’s another reminder that Edwards is more than capable of more than we see every week.
We shouldn’t doubt them at this stage, but the Panthers system works. This was always clear to anyone who has watched any of their reserve or junior football: they all play the same way, all the way down.
Inherent to that is the spreading of metres across the team, ensuring repeatable production across the 80 minutes, and subsequently, the ability of the middles to dominate defensively.
North Queensland didn’t get a single tackle inside 20 until the 52nd minute, demonstrating how conclusively the field position battle was won, and though they did score from further out, Penrith were able to control the bulk of the game despite missing key elements.
That’s why systems are so important. Plenty of teams have stars in a salary-capped league like the NRL, but those with great systems that are reflected across the club can cope without their stars.
When everyone knows that the best players are torn from the comp repeatedly on rep duty, that comes to the fore. We saw that tonight.