Cowboys’ Ben Hannant says he will play whatever role Paul Green wants him to play

PROP Ben Hannant says he is content to play whatever role Paul Green wants as he loses minutes to teammate James Tamou’s resurgence.

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 30: Ben Hannant of the Cowboys Ryan Hinchcliffe and Kurt Mann of the Storm during the round four NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Melbourne Storm at 1300SMILES Stadium on March 30, 2015 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

NORTH Queensland prop Ben Hannant says he is content to play whatever role Paul Green and the Cowboys need him to as he loses minutes to teammate James Tamou’s resurgence.

Having started the first two games and played 57 minutes in each, Hannant has been introduced to make impact in the second half of the last two games off the bench.

The former Origin and Test forward played ran 53 metres and produced 15 tackles in his 18 minutes on the field in the win over Penrith, while the week before in the win against the Storm, Hannant produced 77 running metres and 21 tackles in his 27 minutes.

Ben Hannant takes on the Panthers defence.

The 30-year-old said winning was the most important thing for the Cowboys and he was happy to put the team first.

“I’m just happy to be in the side at the moment and for me, whatever role Greeny has got I’m going to execute to the best of my ability,” Hannant said.

“If I get 10 minutes, 20, 30 or 50 minutes I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.

“It’s much better these last two weeks having two wins than those first few weeks.

“If we continue to build, it’s a long year ahead and there is a lot of footy to be played so I will just do whatever role is required of me.

Hannant’s reduced minutes have come as Tamou has started to regather the kind of form that made him one of the most deadly forwards in the game.

Tamou has been building since returning from serious neck surgery last December and put in arguably one of his best performances since injuring his neck in round 20 against the Bulldogs last year.

“The aggression he’s bringing back, there is no second thought about that neck,” Hannant said.

“He’s finding that form that got him in the Australian side and also in the New South Wales Origin team.

“It’s great to see him back at his best and for us as a team, the best thing possible is to have all our forwards and players playing to the best of their ability and confident.”

Hannant said the aggressive running shown by all the Cowboys forwards was making a difference to the side’s fortunes.

“When you’ve got someone who runs aggressively and gets a quick play the ball and you look at any great team, they’re the ones that really bend the line back and get a quick play the ball,” he said.

James Tamou is tackled by Jeremy Latimore and Sika Manu of the Panthers.

“Once you get one, we’ve seen what’s happened the last two weeks with JT (Johnathan Thurston) and once he gets good go-forward and he’s got time to play and takes the line on, there is going to be points scored.

“All the good teams are like that and it’s massive input for the forwards to make sure they get that go-forward.”