Knight slayer Valentine Holmes eyes incredible NRL milestone

North Queensland Cowboys gun Valentine Holmes is within reach of an incredible NRL milestone and the only thing standing in his way is the team he has historically dominated.

Valentine Holmes needs just 12 points on Saturday to reach an incredible NRL milestone and the only thing standing in his way is the team he has historically dominated. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Valentine Holmes needs just 12 points on Saturday to reach an incredible NRL milestone and the only thing standing in his way is the team he has historically dominated.

Holmes will become the 57th player to accumulate 1000 NRL points, joining only Adam Reynolds, Nathan Cleary, Shaun Johnson, Mitchell Moses and Latrell Mitchell as active players to reach four digits.

“It’s a pretty cool achievement to make. I’m sure there’s probably a lot of goalkickers or tryscorers that have surpassed that, but to reach any type of milestone like that is pretty cool,” Holmes said.

In fact, no NRL player has reached 1,000 points without kicking goals. Billy Slater’s 760 points from 190 tries tops the list of goalless players.

Intent on delaying the pointscoring party are Newcastle – the team that Holmes has scored more tries against than any other.

Valentine Holmes has scored more tries against the Newcastle Knights than any other active player. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

The only players to have scored more than Holmes’ 15 tries against the Knights are Manu Vatuvei and Slater – who have each scored 19.

Typically shying away from the spotlight, the Cowboys centre played down the impressive achievement.

“Maybe the fullbacks seem to find me a bit more? Let’s hope I get one because I haven’t scored one yet (this season),” Holmes said.

“I guess the times I was playing against Newcastle and scored those tries, they weren’t going as great. I think those years in 2015 and ’16 I scored a few then.

“They’re a pretty good, solid side now so I don’t know if I’ll be able to score one but we’ll soon see.”

Playing on the opposite edge on Saturday will be breakout sensation Zac Laybutt.

Zac Laybutt is prepared for a tough battle against the Newcastle Knights. Photo by SCOTT DAVIS

The 22-year-old Bundaberg junior said he was trying to keep a level head after an eye-catching round 1 showing.

“I’m just looking to play consistent footy and put my best foot forward for the team every week and I just want to focus on myself,” Laybutt said.

“Everyone knows the attacking threat Kalyn (Ponga) is with his speed and tackle-breaking ability so we’ll obviously watch a fair bit of video on him and the way the Knights attack and hopefully we’ll be all over it.

“We know that the Knights are a great team and they’re going to come up here guns blazing.

“Hopefully our home crowd out there gives us a bit of an edge, but we know that Knights are a very good side and they’ll come up here looking for a battle.”

Originally published as Knight slayer Valentine Holmes eyes incredible NRL milestone