GROWING PAINS: Cowboys Young guns ready to step up to senior examples
“He’s a freak, he deserves his opportunity to go out there.”
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HE IS part of a young and exciting contingent of up and coming Cowboys.
But now Connelly Lemuelu says it is time to put promise aside and start delivering consistently for the sake of their senior teammates.
The 22-year-old will line up in the centres for his third NRL match against the Penrith Panthers, alongside fellow 2020 debutants Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Gilbert and Daejarn Asi.
At just 19, Asi is the fourth North Queensland young gun to earn his maiden first-grade appearance since the competition returned from its pandemic-enforced hibernation, and he comes equipped with a reputation as a star of the future.
Yet to play a full season of Intrust Super Cup — having played just four games for the Townsville Blackhawks — the Christchurch-born utility back impressed Cowboys coaching staff in the pre-season to the point were he was signed into their top squad.
Gifted with allusive footwork, brilliant ball playing ability and a booming left foot kick, Lemuelu said Asi’s inevitable introduction off the bench this week would be just reward.
“He’s a freak, he deserves his opportunity to go out there. I think everyone at the club is looking forward to him going out there and showing what he does,” Lemuelu said.
“He’s been killing it at training through the whole pre-season and the past for weeks so everyone’s excited for him.
“He’s just a real good eyes up ballplayer, if he comes out with a tired defence I think he’ll look to capitalise on that and put other players through some holes.
“I think he played touch for Australia when he was a bit younger, so obviously he’s a really good ballplayer.”
With so many fellow players who are finding their feet in the NRL around him, Lemuelu has found the adjustment to first-grade football more comforting than expected.
However he is yet to convert that into results, having lost the first two games of his career against Wests Tigers (36-20) and Sydney Roosters (42-16).
In fairness to the centre-winger, he is yet to play with the same player combinations — a trend that will continue this week.
On his debut he played on the wing outside of Justin O’Neill, while on his return from injury last week he played inside Valentine Holmes and Ben Hampton, after the former was forced from the field.
This week he will again take the field beside O’Neill, however their positions will be switched with the veteran taking the flank.
While Lemuelu appreciates this disruption could be difficult to handle in the throes of the NRL season, his 2019 state-level campaign forced him to play right across the backline, and he said he became comfortable playing with varying combinations.
Therefore, he said that those distractions needed to not be removed as excuses, and instead he had to feed off the example set by the more established Cowboys’ players.
“I’m slowly getting used to it, obviously my debut a few weeks ago I found out how fast it was pretty quickly,” Lemuelu said.
“But being out for those few weeks with the injury and coming back last week I think I’ve found my stride and I’m getting used to it.
“Those young blokes are freaks and it’s been pretty good having them alongside myself being new.
“But also with those old heads in the team, with their leadership, they’ve been around for a long time so they know what they’re doing. We just have to get off the back of those guys and focus on what they’re doing and try to do the same.”
Up against a high flying Penrith Panthers unit on Sunday afternoon, Lemuelu knows the defensive lapses the Cowboys have been guilty of in recent weeks will be put to the test once again.
He said regardless of what combination he was given, both edges would need to be vocal in order to stop the attacking threats of Stephen Crichton and Josh Mansour.
“I think just our whole edge, that left edge has been working on our talk and defensive decisions and being assertive with what we’re doing,” Lemuelu said.
“If we make a decision, back ourselves and work as a unit together. I think it all plays a part, it all comes down to talk – the halves, backrowers, centres, wingers and forwards – if we’re all talking and deciding as one unit we’ll be able to fix anything.”
Originally published as GROWING PAINS: Cowboys Young guns ready to step up to senior examples