NRL 2022: Reuben Cotter out of Origin II, Cowboys stun Manly

An inexplicable error from Manly’s Daly Cherry-Evans, combined with a brilliant blitz from the Cowboys sparked a stunning victory for North Queensland on Friday night.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 17: Murray Taulagi of the Cowboys is tackled during the round 15 NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and the North Queensland Cowboys at 4 Pines Park, on June 17, 2022, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Maroons forward Reuben Cotter has been ruled out of Origin II and may not feature again in this year’s series.

Cotter suffered a hamstring injury in the warm-up before North Queensland’s remarkable comeback win against Manly on Friday night.

He was a late withdrawal from the game and is now facing about a month on the sidelines.

Cotter is awaiting a specialist’s opinion in Townsville to determine a time frame, however he is certain to miss next Sunday’s Origin game in Perth.

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Reuben Cotter a late out for the Cowboys after suffering hamstring injury in warmup. Looking ahead, not good for Origin 2 availability in 9 days time. Even the most minor of hamstring strains usually a 2 week return to play, would have to hope for just tightness/fascia injury pic.twitter.com/DfdIdHd08Y

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) June 17, 2022

There is a chance Cotter will not be fit for Game Three at Suncorp Stadium on July 13.

The injury is a blow to the Maroons following Cotter’s sensational debut in Queensland’s 16-10 Origin I win in Sydney last week.

Cotter played 80 minutes on debut at lock and is likely to be replaced by Broncos workhorse Pat Carrigan, who was close to man-of-the-match on debut.

That would open the door for either Broncos prop Tom Flegler or Rabbitohs forward Jai Arrow to earn a recall in Perth on the bench.

Slater may have a few more selection headaches with both Cowboys wingers picking up knocks on Friday night in their final audition to replace the injured Xavier Coates.

Murray Taulagi hurt his shoulder midway through the first half after he landed awkwardly in a tackle but he was able to play on. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow wasn’t so lucky, forced off for an HIA after he was kneed in the head by Morgan Harper. He didn’t return and will have to pass concussion protocols if he is a chance to play.

“I think he’s going to be okay,” Payten said of Taulagi’s injury. “I questioned whether he’s no good for Origin and he said he was sweet, assuming that he’s going to get picked. He said it was numb so I’m assuming it was a burner.”

VALENTINE’S NIGHT

It looked like Cotter’s injury had cruelled the Cowboys when they trailed 26-12 with 10 minutes to go, but you can’t write off this team under Todd Payten.

The visitors raced in three tries in as many minutes to leave the 9266 fans at 4 Pines Park absolutely stunned and heading to the local brewery for a beer to drown their sorrows.

Two quick tries to Reece Robson and Connelly Lemuelu cut the margin to two points but North Queensland’s comeback appeared over when Jeremiah Nanai dropped the kick-off.

Valentine Holmes is congratulated by Scott Drinkwater after scoring for the Cowboys. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

But an inexplicable error by Daly Cherry-Evans was scooped up by Valentine Holmes who outpaced Kieran Foran and survived an epic chase by Jason Saab to run 80 metres to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Cherry-Evans then had the chance to level it up after the siren, but his two-point field goal attempt drifted just wide.

“We shouldn’t have lost that game. That’s the harsh reality and that’s the lesson here tonight,” Manly coach Des Hasler said.

CROKER’S ON CLOUD NINE

There have been question marks on Manly’s No. 9 all season, but Lachlan Croker may have locked down the role after two minutes of magic turned a slender lead into what looked like a matchwinning buffer.

The unassuming rake launched a monster 40/20 from dummy-half and then pounced on an angled grubber from Cherry-Evans to make it 20-12.

The Cowboys clearly didn’t get the memo because Croker was at it again moments later when he grubbered for Josh Schuster who missed the ball, only for Croker to stick out an Inspector Gadget extendible arm to grab his second try.

“He was fantastic out there,” Hasler said. “He was everywhere. He’s been really consistent the whole year.”

Manly hooker Lachlan Croker kicked the Sea Eagles clear before the Cowboys stormed home. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

BLUES CLUES

He was one of the shock omissions from game one, but Jake Trbojevic’s name is firmly in the mix for the must-win clash in Perth.

The Blues missed his emotion in game one, and he showed his worth in the middle on Friday night with 35 tackles and a deft inside ball to put Foran in space in the second half.

Brad Fittler knows exactly what he’s going to get from Trbojevic, and even though his running metres are down this year, he’ll do all the dirty work that the Blues lacked in game one to slow down Queensland’s speedy forwards.

And if the Blues coach wants a spark out of dummy-half then Robson must be in the conversation after he scored a try and made 38 tackles to continue his hot form in 2022.

BEWARE THE SECOND KICK

If at first you don’t succeed, make sure you try again because it will probably lead to a try.

Both the Sea Eagles and Cowboys opened their accounts via second kicks in almost identical first-half plays.

Manly posted the first points of the evening after a Reuben Garrick bomb was batted down to Kieran Foran who chipped it to an unmarked Christian Tuipulotu to open the scoring.

North Queensland copied the play 25 minutes later when Coen Hess rose highest to knock a ball down to Chad Townsend who kicked across for Holmes to get his side on the board.