North Queensland Cowboy history says the premiership title is in the bag

FORMER Cowboys centre Josh Hannay has urged the club to embrace the resilience of the 2005 grand final side in their hunt for the title.

NRL 1st Elimination Final - North Queensland v Brisbane

FORMER Cowboys centre Josh Hannay has urged North Queensland to embrace the resilience of the 2005 grand final side and put suspension anger aside for the sake of their premiership dreams.

As the Cowboys come to grips with the season-ending suspension to strike forward Tariq Sims, Hannay said the team could take a leaf out of the 2005 book where they overcame a finals-ending ban to Carl Webb to defy the odds to make the grand final.

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Webb was banned four-weeks for striking in the final round of the season and now Sims has had his year ended by accepting a five-week ban for a shoulder charge.

“We weren’t a one-man band back then and neither is this current Cowboys side,” Hannay said.

“We certainly showed (in 2005) we had the ability to move on. Someone else slotted into his role and did the job.

“As a group you do have to move on but obviously for us back then when you saw someone like Carl Webb, who I think around that time was one of the better forwards in the game, he was a representative forward, there is no doubt you want those guys beside you on the football field.

“They’ve got quality and depth in that squad and they will bring someone in that will do the job.

“Tariq is a loss and I feel for the kid.

“But I’ve got no doubt they will get on with business and focus on the job at hand and let us fans talk about the conspiracy theories and all that.”

Hannay can see a greater resilience in the Cowboys under Green this season, the team willing to fight harder under adversity after two years where their finals campaign ended with referee blunder controversy.

Cowboys players have cited a round seven loss to Manly as the turning point in their season as Green refocused the group after being wrongly denied victory by a video referee blunder to win the next three games.

If the Cowboys can repeat that fightback and win their next three games they will be crowned NRL premiers for the first time in club history.

The Cowboys celebrate a try.

“Greeny has been very good at not allowing things out of their control to be an excuse for their performance or their results,” Hannay said.

“He has always been very quick to put the onus back on the playing group and say they still have the ability to do what it takes to win games of football.

“He has been really strong with that all year and I think that’s been a really good thing for them as a club.

“As a playing group I have no doubt they will be focused on the job at hand.

“He has really instilled that edge to them, they don’t look for excuses and it will be no different this week I’m sure.”