NRL round one Queensland team of the week: Cowboys dominate, Titans and Dolphins struggle under injury cloud

The Cowboys decimated the Dolphins with their speed and class in an all-Queensland season opener, leading to a strong showing in the Queensland team of the week for round one.

The North Queensland Cowboys were far too strong for the Dolphins. Picture: Scott Davis / NRL Imagery

It’s the Broncos’ most intriguing question … will Kev and Tev get back together this season?

When Tevita Pangai Jr was axed from the Broncos three years ago it was because senior club officials felt he was incompatible with coach Kevin Walters at what was an early, unproven stage of his NRL coaching career.

They were complete opposites – a coach who once said of himself “mate, I’m from Ipswich – we don’t have smoke and mirrors up there’’ and a player whose entire career was permanently shaded with smoke and mirrors.

Now with Pangai back playing for Brisbane Souths, and pursuing a boxing career which is yet to hit the heights he craves, it takes little imagination to see Pangai and the Broncos winking at each other from a distance and steadily becoming closer this season.

This masthead reported in January there has already been talks between the two.

The shock would have been if they weren’t talking, not that they have spoken.

Tevita Pangai Jr watches a pre-season Broncos training session at Red Hill. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

How often do you see a fully fit 28-year-old forward who played State of Origin last year up for grabs at a cheap price?

But … it’s just not that simple.

Pangai and the Broncos Mark II would be one of those unions that looks potentially good on paper, but the more you delve into it you ask yourself whether it would be worth the hassle for both parties.

The big question now is has either Walters or Pangai changed enough for the gamble to be worth it?

Certainly Walters is a more settled, confident coach who knows what he wants.

But Pangai?

Just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you have to love it.

If Pangai still loves rugby league after his nightmare stint at the Bulldogs he did a good job of hiding when he said, among other things: “I didn’t really want to play league or footy as a kid, my parents forced me into it because I’m Polynesian and that’s what we do.’’

It hardly sounds like a man capable of tearing the competition apart a few months later.

Tino Fa'asuamaleaui was a diamond in the rough for the Titans in a humbling opening round defeat to the Dragons. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

TINO’S TORTURE

How much heavy lifting can one man stand?

It’s no wonder Gold Coast skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui dominated a recent poll for being one of the most admired players in the NRL among his peers. Even as his woeful Titans team fell apart against the Dragons on Saturday, Tino managed his routine 153 running metres, 34 tackles and 70 post contact metres.

The question is not whether he is worth the 10-year $12 million contract he signed with the Titans – it’s whether he will see it out given he has an option to exit after three seasons.

The Dolphins were no match for the impressive Cowboys. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

PHINS IN STRIFE

Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins did the best with what they had last year, but 2024 is a different ballgame.

The expectation is different at Redcliffe this season and with that comes added pressure.

Internally, the Dolphins believe they have a team capable of playing finals. But the fashion in which they were thrashed 43-18 by the Cowboys on Sunday at Suncorp Stadium suggests they may have work to do.

The Dolphins looked slow against a youthful Cowboys team that oozes speed and class – two physical attributes that experience has trouble stopping.

A TRUE PIONEER

Had there been no Darryl Van de Velde there may have been no Brisbane Broncos.

Van de Velde, player, coach, chief executive and QRL board member, died suddenly age 72 this month and his funeral will be at 11am Monday at Victory Church, 32 Carseldine Road, Bridgeman Downs.

Van de Velde has been widely lauded as one of the game’s finest men and great visionaries since his death and his most unheralded achievement was being the first man to launch and official bid to have a Brisbane team in the Sydney competition in the late 1980s.