North Queensland Cowboys head south of border in hunt for finals win

After a seemingly endless saga of drama around flights and travel for the North Queensland Cowboys, the team finally got onto the tarmac for their fateful flight to New South Wales for Friday’s semi-final late on Thursday.

After a seemingly endless saga of drama around flights and travel for the North Queensland Cowboys, the team finally got onto the tarmac for their fateful flight to New South Wales for Friday’s semi-final late on Thursday.

Family were on hand to see the team off at the gate of their hastily chartered flight, scrabbled together by the NRL at the eleventh hour.

Accompanied by family, support staff, club higher ups and injured player Coen Hess, the Cowboys pushed their way through a rusted gate opened just for them, absent the usual throng of fans that ordinarily see off the North Queensland side towards the pointy end of the season.

Cowboys at Townsville Airport heading to Sydney for the semi finals against the Sharks. Valentine Holmes and Tom Dearden. Picture: Evan Morgan

After initially battling with airlines to secure enough seats for the North Queensland footy side after their come-from-behind win at home over the Newcastle Knights last week, the Cowboys were granted a reprieve by the NRL and given license to charter a flight, but the troubles didn’t end there.

Initially slated for departure in the early afternoon, the finals-saving flight was pushed back to the early evening as the Cowboys hurried south of the border to get their final preparations underway before squaring off with the Cronulla Sharks at Allianz Stadium.

The match-up will be the first finals meeting between the two teams since former Sharks prodigal son Valentine Holmes sunk a late dagger to send the Sydney side on a slide out of the finals, adding to their misery over their last eight appearances in the post-series conference.

Originally published as North Queensland Cowboys head south of border in hunt for finals win