Cowboys NRL: North Queensland have only seen the start of Luciano Leilua’s brilliance

Luciano Leilua enjoyed a near-perfect debut for the Cowboys in his 100th NRL game but Todd Payten insists the best is yet to come for the former Tiger in North Queensland.

LUCIANO Leilua enjoyed a near-perfect debut for the Cowboys in his 100th NRL game but Todd Payten insists the best is yet to come for the former Tiger in North Queensland.

Before the match, Payten had urged the mid-season recruit not to overplay his hand, to focus on competing for everything and “run people over”.

In 44 action-packed minutes against the Broncos Leilua delivered everything his coach had asked for.

Luciano Leilua of the Cowboys. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

After replacing Tom Gilbert on the left edge Leilua took just 12 seconds to tear into the Broncos, skittling Kotoni Staggs and Jordan Riki on his first touch after sweeping to the outside to run on to a Valentine Holmes offload.

By full-time he had carried 79m on eight runs, dragging defenders for 36 post-contact metres, breaking three tackles and recording a line break.

More pleasing still for his coach was a moment that didn’t show on the stats sheet.

“There were a couple of effort plays I was really pleased with,” Payten said.

“The kick down to the corner, he ran back and made an important play, which is where we have taken our game to.

“He’s going to be good for us. He’s a smart, smart footy player and he’ll grow from week to week.

“Once he gets used to the way we train and feels more comfortable around sequences and defensive movements and all that sort of stuff he’s only going to get better.”

Skipper Chad Townsend revealed he didn’t know what to expect in Leilua’s first cameo for the Cowboys but saw flashes of a dynamic contributor who would get the club closer to the grand final.

“I didn’t expect him to set the world alight but I think everyone saw what he’s capable of with his carries and his punch,” Townsend said.

“He’s got some skills and things that he can do that others can’t.

“We’ll eventually get that out of him, once he understands the basis of our game plan, but it’s exciting when you can bring in a guy like that who can really make a difference.”

When Cowboys plan to unleash star recruit

TODD Payten insists Tigers recruit Luciano Leilua will be ready to reinforce the Cowboys pack in a top four showdown with Brisbane in Round 16.

North Queensland’s coach plans to parachute Leilua directly into the Cowboys starting team for the biggest Queensland derby since the 2015 grand final.

The 26-year-old backrower will watch Friday night’s North Queensland-Manly clash as a free agent but will join the Cowboys after the representative round, pitting him on a collision course with the Broncos in his 100th NRL game.

“We’re playing him against the Broncos,” Payten said.

“It’s not signed off on yet but I expect it will be, there’s just some things that still need to happen.

“He’s got to get a medical, he has to sign his termination clause (at the Tigers) and we haven’t actually drawn up a contract yet either.”

It is a now just a matter of time before those conditions are met and Leilua can take his place alongside Jason Taumalolo and Jeremiah Nanai in one of rugby league’s most exciting attacking units.

Payten has no fear about Leilua acclimatising to the Cowboys DNA.

“I think it (his transition) will be quick,” he said.

“Most teams play similar. We just have to give him the finer detail of the differences between the way we defend and get him up to scratch with some our sets, any sequences that we have in our play.

“He’s a pretty smart kid. He’s played a fair bit of first grade. We’ve signed him to play first grade so there will be a lot of information going at him - I reckon his head is spinning these last 48 hours.

“He’ll get up and we have just got to make him comfortable and feel as welcome as possible.”

Co-captains Chad Townsend and Jason Taumalolo were ecstatic when told the club would be signing Leilua.

A position of shallow depth has been flipped to one of the Cowboys’ greatest strengths inside a week.

THE BACKSTORY

LUCIANO Leilua is not a Cowboy yet, despite his former club’s announcement the explosive backrower had been released from his contract to facilitate an immediate switch to North Queensland.

Cowboys football manager Micheal Luck said the Tigers had approached him to gauge the club’s interest in signing Leilua early but no deal had been struck when he was suddenly released on Tuesday.

The Cowboys had kept both a roster position and space in the club’s 2022 salary cap free in the event of an early release but Luck said more work needed to be done before fans could call Leilua a Cowboy.

“We’d be keen to have him here for the rest of the year. There’s a bit of water to go under the bridge to finalise all of that,” Luck said.

“We said (to the Tigers) we’d do our due diligence and work through our process and that’s still where we’re at.

“This has come through at a pretty opportune time but that’s as far as it has gone at the moment. We’re still working through the process.”

The Cowboys signed the 26-year-old to a three-year contract from 2023 in November. His presence would be a major boost for the club’s premiership tilt with a mounting injury crisis in the backrow.

Originally published as Cowboys NRL: North Queensland have only seen the start of Luciano Leilua’s brilliance