Effort aplenty for the Cowboys
July 19th 2008 07:41
The will is there - Cowboys prop Ray Cashmere takes it up hard no matter what the score
F**k, what a story for the Nth Qld Cowboys this season.
They have a couple of million dollar players on the sideline, in a season where they have really hit the ceiling hard in terms of distress and failure.
Last night they put their reputation as gun slingers at risk as Brisbane tore them apart, much like Columbine did high school kids.
Cowboys coach Ian Millward probably would have thought his side was heading for a record breaking loss, taped down on the back seat of a truck full of Bronco stench.
While the Cowboys ducked their way out of a humiliating hiding, the Broncos straight jumped out of their hangover from last Sunday and grabbed a Nth Qld side by the face and turned their eyeballs around.
The error count from the Cowboys was atrocious, enough to spark the home fans into a frenzy where they would eventually circle the ground and burn it down.
While the rest of the furniture remained free of carnage, the same could not be said about the Cowboys performance last night.
For all the sorry injuries this club has gone through, the mix-up in attack for the Cowboys was unacceptable.
Unforced errors on the first tackle, poor passing options and weak tackling all made us aware of a club really in meltdown.
It has been known since the beginning of time that Matt Bowen and Johnathon Thurston provide the Cowboys with the wake up call to play their football with a sense of humour.
Without them, their energetic play becomes censored and the amusement in their game is gone.
Although it was apparent the effort remained strong, the Cowboys are bereft of confidence. A side unable to even sneak past the Wooden spoon through customs over London.
Like a Schwarzenegger movie, the Broncos in the first half were shooting the Cowboys with an attitude and discipline they could not defend against.
While the Cowboys were looking for guidance, Brisbane came looking for points and managed to conjure 26 in the first half alone.
At that point, anyone could’ve predicted the Broncos were going to wrack up a score that would’ve allowed a twelve year old boy to swear.
But it was good to see the Cowboys come out in the second half, eager to learn ways to conjure victory without their top two players.
And for 40 minutes in the second half, the Cowboys flipped Brisbane the bird, and won the half 12-4, denying their opponents any chance of reading up their prospects for a premiership this season.
Broncos coach Wayne Bennett was left beating up on his own sides performance, enough to suggest the side change their player roster every three months.
Although life hasn’t got much easier for the Cowboys, succumbing to an 11th straight loss, almost 30,000 people cheered them on in what was a packed house at Dairy Farmers stadium.
A couple of years ago, Nth Qld probably had the biggest crowd average in the NRL due to their roaring success and the gun slinging nature of their football.
Although the performances have been much poorer of late, the loyalty of the fans remains stronger than ever.
There were fans last night pissed off at a high tackle call on Karmichael Hunt that left the Cowboys in a position of weakness, in a period where they were gaining control.
Then the biggest play of the match came with a Cowboy himself losing the ball over the line, at a point where the score was 26-12 with over twenty minutes remaining.
The population of Nth Qld were damaged in disbelief as the comeback of the year fell just short.
While 2008 is now something of a forgone conclusion for the Cowboys, the confidence the fans have brought to this club is instrumental in their recent successes.
No one could have predicted the Cowboys sudden demise after falling one game short of a grand final last year. No one ever knew this was coming.
I suppose though Nth Qld will be back in 2009 and that chase for an elusive premiership will garner strength once again.
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