Cowboys and Broncos are the best two teams in the NRL - and North Queensland can be premiers again

MATTHEW JOHNS: After watching the Broncos and Cowboys play close to the best game of football I’ve ever seen, I went away convinced of two things.

Johns: Cowboys and Broncos on their own

AFTER watching the Broncos and Cowboys play close to the best game of football I’ve ever seen last Friday night, I went away convinced of two things:

1. There’s a fair bit of daylight between these two teams, and the next best.

2. The Cowboys will go back to back.

These two teams have adjusted their football perfectly, to extract every benefit from a middle defence, which sees itself vulnerable from fatigue in this new sped-up era.

For Brisbane, Anthony Milford is cutting the defence to ribbons, with his run-first, pass-second mentality.

Milford’s a joy to watch. The more defenders fear the little No.6, the more they stand off him. Milford can smell the fear and doesn’t bother with fancy big plays. He does what’s most effective when standing opposite a big, tired defender and he runs directly at him.

The Broncos look particularly lethal when Milford and Ben Hunt operate in combination. There’s more than just a little bit of Alfie and Kevvy in the Brisbane six and seven.

And that’s what takes an attack to another level, when the creative players operate in combination, rather than separate parts.

This business of nailing a six and seven to the left and right and never should their paths cross is a creative straightjacket and outdated.

No such problems for the North Queensland Cowboys. The premiers are spearheaded by the four-man attacking combination of Johnathan Thurston, Michael Morgan, Jake Granville and Lachlan Coote.

Thurston may be the primary ballhandler but the others - Morgan in particular - are growing in influence.

When Thurston carts the ball to the defence, Morgan and Coote are close by complementing everything he does.

The Cowboys’ spine react beautifully to one another. Thurston might call the football, but if Granville decides to run out of dummy-half, Thurston immediately turns into a hole-hitter supporting Granville’s instincts to run.

Too often halves sulk when their dummy half doesn’t deliver them the football when they call it. Not JT. He’s willing to push forward and into the teeth of the defence.

Same goes for Morgan. Morgan is equally comfortable taking an early pass off JT or allowing his captain to run at the defence, at which point Morgan courageously hits the gap.

Morgan’s skills complement Thurston’s perfectly.

In the second half, last Friday night, this four-man combination was at times unstoppable.

The Broncos and Cowboys are so evenly matched. Leading into last Friday’s game you just knew it was going to be decided in the 80th minute, as it turned out like the grand final, it went beyond that.

I made the comment when these two sides meet, it’s like Ali v Frazier; you sit down knowing it’s going to be memorable and you know it will go the full 15 rounds.

In the pre-season I picked the Broncos as my 2016 premiership winner. They began the season as favourites and are even more so a month in, but in defeat last week I saw something in the Cowboys which convinces me they will go back to back.

The bottom line? The Broncos don’t manage games as well at the back end as the Cowboys.

Actually let me be perfectly blunt. When the game is on the line, the Broncos don’t have Johnathan Thurston.

Sure, the Broncos won and Milford knocked over the match-winning field goal but from the 65th minute on, Thurston’s game management and decision-making was first class, while Milford and Hunt had moments of brilliance but came up with numerous plays that almost and really should have handed the Cowboys victory.

Milford strikes fear into opposition defences.

In the 68th minute the Broncos were leading 14-12 but had been under siege from a Cowboys attack, which was creating opportunity after opportunity.

None-the-less, Brisbane were hanging in and worked a yardage set up toward halfway when Milford called the ball on the last tackle. The Broncos desperately needed a long kick to the corner to give some respite from the Thurston/Morgan attacking onslaught. Milford instead, stabbed a little grubber through which gave North Queensland cheap possession and field position.

The Cowboys scored several plays later.

Milford is such an enormous talent and you tend to forget he is still a young and relatively inexperienced playmaker.

In the final few moments Hunt came up with a couple of poor kicks himself, which again very nearly handed the Cowboys victory.

On both occasions the Cowboys crossed the Broncos try line, only to have the tries controversially disallowed.

Fair play to the Broncos, they took the opportunity to win the match, a stunning 40-metre field goal, but the victory wasn’t without a fair slice of good fortune.

The Broncos don’t have a conductor to match Thurston.

Wayne Bennett will no doubt sit down with Hunt and Milford and discuss that last 20 minutes and the options they took and what he expects from them when they’re next in that pressure situation.

On Friday night the Broncos face their next door neighbours, the Gold Coast Titans, who have surprised everyone with their terrific start to the season.

There’s no doubt, at their best the Broncos win this game, but I wonder how much last Friday’s epic win may take out of them.

The Titans are a very well coached football team and of late, made their home ground a very difficult place to win for opposition teams.

The Titans have showed in the first month that they will not roll over and beat themselves. The Broncos won’t want to be too far away from their best or they could be in for another nail biter.

Originally published as Cowboys and Broncos are the best two teams in the NRL - and North Queensland can be premiers again