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North Queensland have taken a huge step towards a finals berth with a 24-16 win over fellow hopefuls Parramatta in Townsville, moving into the top eight for the first time in the process.
They built it on rock solid defence, repeatedly turning away the Eels in a superb second half showing. The Cowboys did have a late wobble in the face of extreme Parra pressure, but had enough in the end to get home.
With the win, they leapfrog the Eels and move into pole position for a top eight slot. It came at a cost, however: Jeremiah Nanai left with a shoulder complaint and Griffin Neame with a head knock.
Val Homes might also be in hot water after being sin binned for a high shot on Mitch Moses, and will be joined at the judiciary by Ryan Matterson, put on report for a hip drop. Shaun Lane, too, dislocated an elbow and might miss some time.
Brad Arthur was happy with how his side fought to the end, but will lament that they gave themselves so much to do.
“It’s pleasing that we had so much effort and fight at the end, because we had to do way too much defending early, which was self-inflicted,” he said.
“The penalty count was against us, which was the fault of ourselves, and then poor completions.
“When we got a small chunk of ball down on their tryline, they were too good defensively and scrambled because they were fresh. They didn’t have to do any work.
“It’s frustrating because some of the tries scored against us were simple system errors. Blokes going to sleep for a three second window is costing us.”
Moses and Clint Gutherson were, as ever, their best, but could only do so much against a supreme defensive effort.
The Eels actually broke the record for the most offloads in a game at 28, but that amounted to just two line breaks as the Cowboys turned up time and again.
With the footy, the bulk of the damage was done before half time. First Tom Dearden, then Scott Drinkwater, then Chad Townsend were able to create tries, which gave Todd Payten’s men something to hold on to.
The coach was less than happy at the sin bin, but praised his side’s dig to get the two points.
“I thought it was the wrong call,” he said. “I didn’t think it was forceful contact to the head, especially with the speed that Val and Mitchell were coming in. If that’s forceful, he’s going to hospital or to get a HIA.
“I thought it was good contact, on the ball and whiplash made it look worse than what it was. It was great refereeing from Mitch.
“We finished with only two on the bench and defended with 12 for ten minutes. Parra had nothing to lose and kept offloading, which took a fair bit of gas out of us. They kept competing, it was a gritty performance.”
Tactics are a big deal, but they’re only half of the equation. You can have the best tactics in the world, but unless the spirit is there too, they’re just lines on a whiteboard.
The Cowboys have one of the great defensive systems in the NRL, and even when they were underperforming at the start of the year, Todd Payten was usually quick to point out that it was application, not structure that was the problem.
Not that they weren’t trying, of course, but the Cowboys weren’t following the plan to the best of their abilities.
That’s all changed now. The defensive effort to keep the Eels – one of the competition’s best in attack – to just one try in the first half, and scoreless across a sin bin period, was the perfect example.
They dug deep, as they needed to, but also knew exactly how to keep Parra out. It was heart with smarts.
That works on both sides of the ball. In the period after the break, attack was designed to maximise time in possession to run down the clock as Holmes waited to return. They held the ball for 81% of the time, the bulk of it in the attacking end.
It was a feast of negative possession is a serious component of any team based on their defence.
Where some sides attempt to constantly add to their score, others are happy to play the game at the other end, make their opposition work and rest with the ball. The Cowboys are among the best at that.
They could do that tonight because they’d banked the points early. That aspect was their weakest in the Finals last year, but has come on leaps and bounds in recent weeks. Another year into Dearden and Drinkwater seems to have elevated them to the next level.
They ruthlessly picked at Parramatta’s weak links, giving their teammates something to defend. It’s a plan that might take the Cowboys very far this year.
Maika Sivo’s absence prompted a backline reshuffle for the Eels, and the return of another Fijian flyer to the ranks in Waqa Blake.
Suffice to say, it did not go well. Blake was miles off the pace, bolting out to offer Drinkwater a tunnel for his pass to set up Semi Valemei’s first and getting far in front of the ball on multiple occasions.
In attack, he also sent down a few and overran others. Blake is not a bad player, and has had plenty of good games before, but this wasn’t one of them.
It wasn’t just him, however. Lane was exposed by Dearden early on, unable to link with Daejarn Asi, and the five eighth was found out for another try.
The whole left edge of the Eels’ defence was disconnected, and the Cowboys were far too good to pass up the opportunities presented to them.
Parra have been one of the best attacking units in the league at times, but they were totally shut down with the ball and gave up enough in defence to lose the game by plenty.
It’s not back to the drawing board time, because Arthur knows that the quality is in there, but they will need to hope that there is still something to play for by the time RCG, Sivo and Dylan Brown return.
With trips to Melbourne and Brisbane in the next three weeks, that is by no means a certainty.