North Queensland Cowboys’ 5 key steps on the road to Grand Final date with Melbourne Storm

NORTH Queensland were $67 premiership chances in the week before the final series, but have gone on to play the most daring football of all the finals teams.

Cowboys players celebrate reaching the Grand Final at the Sydney Roosters’ expense

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THE main figures may have been Paul Green, Jason Taumalolo and Michael Morgan, but the Cowboys would not have reached the grand final without the unwitting intervention of Tim Lafai.

North Queensland were $67 premiership chances in the week before the final series, sealing eighth spot only when Canterbury managed a late escape to edge out St George Illawarra on the last day of the home-and-away season.

The Cowboys have gone on to play the best, the most composed and at times most daring football of all the finals teams.

Cowboys players celebrate reaching the Grand Final at the Sydney Roosters’ expense.

The qualification by the Cowboys and the Queensland-heavy Storm for the grand final was too much for one of NSW’s finest State of Origin players Andrew Johns.

“The players Queensland is producing, how they play and conduct themselves, it makes you want to cry,’’ Johns said with a grin on Channel 9 commentary.

The five major steps by the Cowboys to grand final glory were:

1. July 1, Cowboys d Raiders 31-18.

Injured Johnathan Thurston’s season was over and after one match in which Ray Thompson was halfback, Green took the decision that Morgan would wear the No. 7 jersey. He had previously played three games there while Thurston was absent. Morgan, playing with the confidence of his recent best Origin series, laid on three try assists and one line break assist in this game in Canberra.

Michael Morgan was given the No. 7 shirt in Canberra and put on a show.

2. September 3, Bulldogs d Dragons 26-20.

St George Illawarra were 16 minutes from bumping the Cowboys out of eighth place when they led Canterbury 20-14. A converted try levelled the score and then Lafai made a crude error from an offload in his own 20m area. Lafai watched helplessly then as soft marker defence permitted Canterbury’s Michael Lichaa to score. Green’s daughter Emerson, 8, also helped when she persuaded her dad to put on the “lucky’’ Father’s Day tie she gave him when Canterbury were six behind.

The Dragons gave away a late lead against the Bulldogs to let the Cowboys steal eighth

3. September 10, Cowboys d Sharks 15-14.

Taumalolo’s astonishing 62nd minute try, in which he dragged four defenders with him over the line, and Ethan Lowe’s cool 77th minute penalty goal took the Cowboys to extra time at Allianz Stadium. Both teams had an opportunity to kick field goals in extra time, but only the Cowboys mustered the clarity of thought, will and execution. Morgan snapped his first field goal as an NRL player and the Cowboys defence held on.

The Cowboys edged past the Sharks by a single point earlier this month.

4. September 16, Cowboys d Eels 24-16.

The ABC’s website reported this to be “one of the biggest boilovers of the year’’. Maybe it was to anyone who missed the determination against Cronulla. Morgan and Taumalolo were again prominent, but in the two tries to put the Cowboys ahead and give them a buffer, the key efforts were by John Asiata, Te Maire Martin and Coen Hess.

5. September 23, Cowboys d Roosters 29-16.

In the preliminary final, the Cowboys made light of a third-straight week of travel to again finish stronger. For the third game in a row, winger Kyle Feldt scored a try at a vital moment, a 66th minute finish that gave the Cowboys an 18-14 lead they did not relinquish.