North Queensland halfback Johnathan Thurston’s attack must be backed by better defence

THE Cowboys’ defence is simply not good enough at this stage to be able to rely on co-captain Johnathan Thurston conjuring magic every game.

Johnathan Thurston of the Cowboys during the NRL match between the Brisbane Broncos and t

FOR North Queensland to be premiership threats, halfback Robert Lui must be brave enough to dominate the backline and be a legitimate threat to opposition.

The Cowboys need more than a Shane Perry-style foil this year.

The Cowboys’ defence is simply not good enough at this stage to be able to rely on co-captain Johnathan Thurston conjuring magic every game.

The age-old theory of the Cowboys still holds true: Stop Thurston, stop them.

Johnathan Thurston of the Cowboys runs with the ball.

The Broncos managed to shut him down in the final 15 minutes of last night’s absorbing NRL Round 2 contest and emerge 16-12 victors.

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Last year’s grand finalists, Sydney Roosters and Manly, had representative stars at halfback and five-eighth in Mitchell Pearce and James Maloney, and Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran.

At times last night, Thurston was brilliant but it is hard to sustain that for 80 minutes let alone an entire season.

Thurston made errors when pushing the game but he shouldn’t need to force his hand, he should feel confident in halfback Lui and hooker Ray Thompson being able to threaten.

Johnathan Thurston of the Cowboys is tackled.

Thurston is the game’s best five-eighth but this is not basketball and a team can’t win the title on the back of one dominant playmaker like Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.

While the overreliance on Thurston is worrying, James Tamou has returned to form.

At Suncorp Stadium, Tamou kept the Cowboys in the contest with a first half surge of direct metre-eating that proved his best was not behind him.

His last 20 minutes nearly won them the game as he made 10-plus metres on hit-up after hit-up to control territory for his team. It is a welcome turnaround.

Johnathan Thurston of the Cowboys during the NRL match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys. Pic Darren England.

A humble and self-critical Tamou repeatedly talked down his own performances last year as “not good enough” and while at times he was being harsh, there was no question he lacked venom.

A bulging disc didn’t help as he had to run sideways into defenders to avoid his back being hit.

In his first stint against a representative-stacked Broncos pack last night he had a first-half high nine hit-ups which included a sublime hit and spin then offload for Thurston to score beside the posts.