NRL round 6: North Queensland Cowboys take on South Sydney Rabbitohs in Perth
Despite the elation of a third consecutive victory, North Queensland Cowboys coach Todd Payten has identified a worrying trend from his side. Find out what the coach thought of Saturday night’s important win.
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The Cowboys will return to Townsville with a spring in their step after securing a third straight victory to correct the horror start to the season.
A strong second half saw the Cowboys take control of the match as Jaxon Purdue scored back-to-back tries late in the contest.
North Queensland goes into its first bye round just two points behind the third-placed Broncos, with a week of rest before the Gold Coast Titans travel north for an Anzac round showdown.
But despite the elation of a third consecutive win, Cowboys coach Todd Payten said he was concerned about a worrying trend where his players don’t appear mentally engaged.
Asked about North Queensland’s first half performance, Payten said he didn’t think his players looked focused.
“I was a little concerned, just with the way the players were – I thought they were a little bit distant, or vacant,” Payten said.
“That makes me nervous from time to time but I liked the way we started that second half.
“We found some composure after we scored a try and just managed to work really hard for each other right until the very end.”
Cowboys hooker Reece Robson was outstanding in attack, playing off some powerful carries and bringing great speed around the ruck.
“He was getting some opportunities off the back of some hard running. I thought our back five did a great job – Rob Derby in the last three weeks has been terrific,” Payten said.
“Murray Taulagi has stepped it up the last couple of weeks, Viliami Vailea has been dangerous and hard to put down, and the Jaxon Purdue – he’s playing some pretty good footy.
“So you couple that with some big boys through the middle and a bit of power, it can create some opportunities for Reece.”
Jayden Sullivan will serve a one-match suspension if he takes the early guilty plea for dangerous contact on Cowboys co-captain Tom Dearden.
Sean Keppie also faces a week on the sideline with an early plea for his careless high tackle on Scott Drinkwater – with both Rabbitohs offences occurring in the final 10 minutes.
But it was an incident involving Drinkwater and Rabbitohs five-eighth Jack Wighton that drew the attention of Payten.
“I thought they were unlucky, to be completely honest. Those calls have been going against us for a few weeks now, so it was good to get one go our way, but I don’t know if it was a hip-drop,” Payten said.
“If you’re tackling someone from behind I don’t know where you’re supposed to land. That’s the part that doesn’t make sense to me.”
The Cowboys have a week off before they host the Titans in Townsville on Saturday, April 26. Kick-off is at 5.30pm.
COWBOYS ON LATRELL WATCH AS MITCHELL APPROACHES MILESTONE
April 11
The Cowboys will look to limit the impact of South Sydney superstar Latrell Mitchell as the NRL’s most talked about player approaches a major Rabbitohs milestone.
Mitchell will start at five-eighth on Saturday for just the fifth time in his 172-game career and the first time in more than five years, requiring just six points to become the ninth Bunnies player to score 500 points – and the sixth NRL player to accomplish the feat at two clubs.
The Rabbitohs dynamo has never lost a game for South Sydney as captain and he will skipper the side for the fourth time when he suits up to play the Cowboys.
North Queensland co-captain Tom Dearden said the Cowboys knew what to expect when it came to Mitchell.
“We know what Latrell brings to a team. He’s a big game player and him playing his second game of the season, we know he’ll be up for it,” Dearden said.
“He’s always a big threat. He’s one of the most damaging players in the game, so anytime you come up against him you know he’s going to be a massive threat with the ball.”
Optus Stadium’s quick surface has typically led to high-scoring affairs, with three of the last four NRL games played at the venue seeing 50 or more points scored.
The last NRL match at the Perth stadium – between the Rabbitohs and Sharks in 2023 – finished 26-16 to Cronulla.
The last time a Queensland team has won in WA was when the Titans beat the Rabbitohs 29-28 in a golden point thriller in 2016.
South Sydney has lost four consecutive games on the West Coast, with the most recent win coming more than a decade ago against the Warriors in 2015.
Cowboys backrower Jeremiah Nanai said he was looking forward to returning to play in Western Australia for the first time since State of Origin in 2022.
“Optus Stadium is a pretty nice stadium, I came her last time and played Origin with the Maroons. I can’t wait to play there again,” Nanai said.
“It’s a good opportunity for NRL teams to come over and bring some footy here across Australia, and I hope fans get amongst it.
“They (the Rabbitohs) are a good side this year and they’ve got some handy players in their team.”
The Cowboys play the Rabbitohs in Perth on Saturday, April 12. Kick-off is at 5.30pm AEST.
COWBOYS PROVIDE COTTER UPDATE AS TEAM NAMED FOR BATTLE WITH BUNNIES
March 8
The Cowboys have named an unchanged side for Saturday’s shootout in the west with the Rabbitohs as the club chases a third consecutive win.
North Queensland has now named the same team for four straight weeks, and although co-captain Reuben Cotter was ruled out of last week’s triumph over Penrith, the lock forward was named to play in round 6.
Cowboys prop Griffin Neame confirmed Cotter was back training at full capacity.
“He’s good, he’s feeling way better now,” Neame said.
“He sort of woke up the day after feeling a lot better. He was crook for about three days there, I think he was pretty bad, but he’s good now.
“He trained yesterday, did full training and felt sweet so he should be good to go.”
With the round 7 bye on the near horizon, a win against South Sydney could see the Cowboys rise into the top eight in a fortnight’s time.
But it won’t come easily against one of the form teams of the competition, despite the Rabbitohs suffering a handful of injuries to key players.
Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater said his side would be on high alert for electrifying fullback Jye Gray and Latrell Mitchell following South Sydney’s red-hot start to the club’s latest Wayne Bennett era.
“They’re four and one, so they’re winning a lot of footy games and their new coach who has come in is pretty good,” Drinkwater said.
“They’ve made a big turnaround since last year and they’ve just got Latrell (Mitchell) back. Obviously they have a few injuries out but I have a feeling with who their coach is that any player that steps in and plays for them will turn up and do their job for the team.”
“Jye Gray is leading the Dally M at the moment and he’s playing some good footy so I’m sure he’ll probably be a key identifier for us on Saturday night.”
Drinkwater was one of North Queensland’s best against the Panthers, contributing with two try assists, five tackle breaks and three goals in the 22-18 win.
Drinkwater has flicked between fullback and five-eight for his entire career and said Mitchell would have no problem doing the same.
“He (Mitchell) probably lives for these types of moments where he’s the only ‘superstar’ on the team,” Drinkwater said.
“I don’t know where he’ll be playing but by the sounds of it he might be having his hands on the ball a lot more, a bit closer to the rucks, so he’ll be looking to put on a show – but there’s other players out there.”
The Cowboys face the Rabbitohs on Saturday evening, kick-off is at 5.30pm AEST.
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Originally published as NRL round 6: North Queensland Cowboys take on South Sydney Rabbitohs in Perth
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