Paul Green may be forced into changes following Cowboys awful start to season
PAUL Green could wield the axe on his underperforming Cowboys, admitting change may be needed to spark a return to form.
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PAUL Green could wield the axe on his underperforming Cowboys, admitting change may be needed to spark a return to form.
North Queensland sank to their seventh loss in 10 games on Thursday night, in what has been a shocking start to the season for last year’s grand finalists.
The 20-12 loss to the Wests Tigers was due to a second half fade out, in which the Cowboys made 16 errors and had a 38 per cent completion rate.
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Green admitted it may be time to look at his options in the Intrust Super Cup.
“I tend not to comment about selection straight after a game ... It’s not the right time,” he said.
“At some point you have to get something happening. You can’t just keep rolling out the same people and say, ‘let’s hope we win this week’. You have to get something sparked.”
Obvious contenders include Townsville Blackhawks forward Francis Molo, who has been a standout for the club this year, and young centre Enari Tuala.
Molo is the most likely to come into the side, after veteran forward Shaun Fensom dislocated his elbow against the Tigers, while Tuala is putting pressure on Justin O’Neill and Antonio Winterstein.
The club will also continue to monitor the situation around prop Scott Bolton, who was last week charged with indecent assault for an alleged incident in Bondi.
Bolton did not travel back to Townsville with the team yesterday but general manager Peter Parr said this was due to “personal reasons” as he “worked through the situation” ahead of his first court appearance on June 19 in Sydney.
Green was not the only one to indicate team changes were on the way, with assistant coach Todd Payten revealing the chances had improved for the likes of Tuala and Molo after the latest loss.
“Things have got to change,” Payten said.
“Once we reassess and go through the game again, we’ll sit down and talk about our best team.
“Enari’s been going well for a kid. He’s only 19 and he’s been considered for a couple of games, but given they were must wins (games) it was probably a little bit too much pressure for him.
“But I think that’s out the window now. We’re certainly looking closer at that. Javid (Bowen) came down as 18th man and he’s close to the mark as well.”
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