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Part one is done. The Cowboys defeated the Dolphins 34-10, keeping their season alive and giving their differential a decent boost in the process.
Part two is simple: they need to go to Penrith next Saturday evening and win. By how much will depend on the result between the Roosters and Rabbitohs the night before.
Todd Payten would have approached this with a singularity of purpose, conscious that his side were on a three-game losing streak and had dropped a game identical to this one, away at the Titans, not too long ago.
“I was really pleased with how we handled the pressure through the week, and we started the game 14 from 14 (sets) and scorer a couple of tries to get 18-0,” said Payten.
“The second half, we bombed a couple of tries which is disappointing but we did enough to win. We came down to win and we’re happy to walk away with two points.
“When we play finals, we’ll deserve it because we’ve got to go through Penrith next week. We’ve got to move quicker defensively, we can’t cough up the ball in our own end and we’re going to have to find another gear.”
From the start, it didn’t look like this Queensland derby was going to be as tough, with teh Cowbos racing into an 18-0 lead before Josh Kerr was binned for a hip-drop tackle, with Zac Laybutt adding another – his second – while he was away.
Not that anyone told Kyle Feldt: the winger was lucky to stay on after raising his foot into Sean O’Sullivan’s face, a move likened to the Karate Kid on commentary. He wasn’t penalised at the time, but might find a Dangerous Contact charge in the post from the judiciary.
The Dolphins are made of tough stuff, however, and fought back strongly to salvage pride with Jamayne Isaako furthering his case for top tryscorer with another two tries.
“They thought they could put 60 on us at one stage, at 24-0 it wasn’t looking rosy, but from the sin bin on we hung in pretty good,” said Wayne Bennett.
“Coming in at half time, it was a pretty tough time because it was all going against them. Their strength and their ability to play for each other got them through that second half. They’ve continually shown that and it’s what gives me confidence about our future.”
North Queensland have not always covered themselves in glory with the footy in 2023, and have largely been decent or absolutely terrible.
Tonight, fortunately for them, was one of the decent days where Scott Drinkwater turns up, Tom Dearden gets space and Chad Townsend finds his kicking range.
Laybutt was the beneficiary for one, taking a spilled kick to the house, and they even scored from deep – not a classic Cowboys move – after a superb Murray Taulagi break.
Kulikefu Finefeuiaki did a fair impression of Jeremiah Nanai with some silky ball skills out wide, too, and Heilum Luki continues to impress. There was plenty to love tonight.
But there was something strange about the Cowboys attack, too. It was as if they thought that, having a comfortable lead, they could mess about and not go further.
Drinkwater dropped one cold with the line begging at the end of the first half, and at the start of the second, Feldt decided to channel 2005 with an extravagant flick pass. Suffice to say, Benji has nothing to worry about.
Payten had rinsed his side at half time for their profligacy, because he knows they need every point that they can get. It’s not inconceivable that it could come down to that, and leaving 12 points on the table might end up a big problem.
When they kicked into gear again late, it was more simplistic, probing and waiting for the Dolphins to make a mistake. Against this edition of Redcliffe, that’s plenty enough.
Everything worth saying about the Dolphins on the field has been said, really. Everyone knows their spirit and tenacity, as well as their limitations.
They have a crack, try to complete high and stay in the game, but also have a lot of young guys, a lot of fringe NRL standard players and a few who might be past their sell-by date in first grade.
They’ve lost ten of the last 11, which is, obviously, very bad, but have rarely been blown out and regularly competitive.
Off the field, they’ve just kept going. This was a meaningless game for them, but they still commanded 33,000 fans at the big stadium, with the bulk roaring on Redcliffe and cheering them home even when there was, realistically, not much to shout about.
It’s impressive stuff and validates the decision to go to Brisbane for a second team. The Broncos are away in Canberra this weekend, but the public is there and they are showing up to support their team.
Next week they get the Warriors, too, and given the number of Kiwis in Southeast Queensland, they might well top that attendance again.