NRL Grand Final 2017: Cowboys urged to heed lessons after being “embarrassed” by Melbourne

COWBOYS skipper Gavin Cooper summed up North Queensland’s heartbreak, while coach Paul Green urged his team to learn lessons from their defeat.

Gavin Cooper summed up his team’s emotions after the game. Picture. Phil Hillyard

COWBOYS coach Paul Green urged his side to learn lessons from their grand final heartbreak as North Queensland stars lamented being “embarrassed” by the Melbourne machine.

The Cowboys’ great white hope, halfback Michael Morgan, lashed their grand final display, saying their Cinderella surge counted for nothing as the Storm hit top gear at ANZ Stadium.

While North Queensland completed at a superb 89 per cent — the fourth straight week they have exceeded 80 per cent- they lacked the defensive discipline to truly threaten a clinical Storm outfit.

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Gavin Cooper summed up his team’s emotions after the game. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Just 12 months ago, the Storm were left gutted after losing to the Sharks in the 2016 decider. Melbourne overcame the scar tissue, and Green hopes his courageous troops will use the pain of Sunday night’s 34-6 belting to hit back with the Cowboys’ second premiership in 2018.

“It’s a pretty shattering feeling,” Green said.

“I thought we started the second half the way we needed to, but we needed to spend more time at their end and take a bit more juice out of them.

“Last year’s loss for Melbourne lit a fire for them and hopefully it does the same for us.

“If we just think it will happen for us next year, we won’t get another opportunity (to play in a grand final).

“These games are not easy to make so you can’t presume anything will happen next year. There are plenty of positives but as a group we need to take our lessons.”

Skipper Gavin Cooper was in football heaven two years ago when the Cowboys clinched the 2015 premiership. Last year, he felt the pain of the deepest footballing cut, ruing North Queensland’s inability to execute against the league’s most unforgiving team.

“I feel shithouse,” he said. “I know what it feels like to win it and now I know what it feels like to lose one.

“We still believed we were for a reason, it wasn’t luck, it was a lot of hard work. But our performance was sub-par, we didn’t play our best.”

Morgan added: “It does hurt, it feels like a waste of a season to be honest. You come this far and we were a little bit embarrassed. That scoreline doesn’t reflect the effort we put in through this year.

“They’re the best at breaking a team down and knowing what their role is. We certainly felt that.”