NRL 2020: Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys have gone separate ways since 2017 grand final
They met in the grand final just three years ago but while Melbourne Storm have since gone from strength to strength, North Queensland Cowboys have gone backwards. What’s happened?
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Storm star Cameron Munster has credited Melbourne’s ability to keep players on the paddock for the club’s consistent NRL premiership tilts ahead of a showdown with the cellar-dwelling Cowboys.
The Storm and Cowboys will clash at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Sunday having travelled contrasting paths since their meeting in the 2017 NRL grand final.
The Storm were crowned 2017 champions following a dominant season in which they finished minor premiers and won 23 of 27 games.
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The Cowboys made a fairytale run to the 2017 decider without star players Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott after sneaking into eighth spot in the finals with a 13-11 record and winning their next three knockout games.
The grand final was a lopsided affair, with Melbourne coasting to a well-deserved 34-6 win against a North Queensland team that ran out of steam by the time they reached the final.
The clubs have gone in different directions since.
Despite losing star halfback Cooper Cronk to Sydney, the Storm finished second in 2018, Billy Slater’s final season, before falling in the grand final to Cronk’s Roosters.
The Cowboys slumped to 13th that year in Thurston’s farewell season.
In 2019, Melbourne were minor premiers again but faded in the finals before being knocked out by the Roosters one game short of the decider.
The Cowboys fell again to 14th spot in 2019 as Scott was forced into an early retirement following a stroke.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a curveball into the 2020 season, the Storm once again remain in the NRL premiership hunt.
Despite having to relocate to the Sunshine Coast from COVID-ravaged Melbourne, the Storm are sitting second on the ladder and gearing up for another title tilt.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys are in 14th spot having sacked coach Paul Green, the man behind the 2015 premiership and 2017 grand final, in July.
Over the past three seasons since the 2017 grand final, the Storm have used 43 players in the NRL and seamlessly replaced retired legends Cronk and Slater.
The Cowboys have rolled through 45 players and struggled to overcome the departures of Thurston and Scott and come up with a winning formula.
While Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy continues to produce NRL stars like fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen, Munster said it was the team’s consistency on the field which played the biggest part in the Storm’s sustained success.
“Don’t get me wrong, the Cowboys have got a great roster, they’ve been very unlucky with injuries,” he said.
“Michael Morgan hasn’t been on the field for more than a few weeks straight. I feel sorry for him and the Cowboys.
“It’s consistency every week. We’ve pretty much got the same 13 or 17 on the field most weeks.
“Very rarely do we have injuries. Obviously this year has been a bit different with the fly-in, fly-out mentality and a lot of softtissue injuries.
“Over the last three or four years we’ve had a consistent roster on the field and that’s what you need – your best 17 out there every week.
“If you can do that for the majority of the year it goes a long way to making the top four.”
The Storm will field eight players from the 2017 premiership team in Sunday’s clash with the Cowboys.
Captain Cameron Smith is still at the helm along with Suliasi Vunivalu, Josh Addo-Carr, Jesse and Kenny Bromwich, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Felise Kaufusi and Munster, while lock Dale Finucane is injured.
The Cowboys still have 10 players from the 2017 team still at the club, however only Kyle Feldt, Justin O’Neill, Gavin Cooper, John Asiata and Corey Jensen have been named to play.
Captain Morgan, Jason Taumalolo, Coen Hess, Jake Granville and Ben Hampton are either injured or omitted at the moment, highlighting the Cowboys’ struggles.
Former Kangaroos prop Jordan McLean played for Melbourne in 2017 before joining the Cowboys the following year.
Morgan was the star of North Queensland’s run to the 2017 grand final, producing a purple patch of form in Thurston’s absence (shoulder injury) to carry North Queensland to the decider.
His 2020 campaign has been crushed by injuries and Morgan recently said it had been a tough period in Townsville.
“I want to be playing well again,” he said.
“We have had our challenges as a club the last couple of years and I don’t want to look back at 2017 and say to myself ‘I need to play like that again’. That’s in the past.
“Yes, it was great for what it was, but I don’t want to look back, I want to keep looking forward. That has to be the attitude of everyone at the club.
“I want what’s best for the club and what’s best for the playing group. There are no cracks forming in this group. I am proud of the bond.”
The Cowboys last week appointed Todd Payten to replace Green and have refused to entertain thoughts of a “rebuild” in Townsville.
The club believes it has the stock to bounce back into NRL finals contention next year and only needs to have more luck with injuries to be a powerhouse again.
With players like Taumalolo, Morgan and Valentine Holmes, the Cowboys have the star power to be dominant and football chief Peter Parr believes it won’t be long before North Queensland is back to its best.
“We will stick with the plan we devised 18 months ago,” he said.
“In the last 12 months or so we’ve signed Scott Drinkwater, Esan Marsters, Reece Robson and Valentine Holmes. We have brought in four players in positions we thought we needed to strengthen.
“At the same time we’ve tried to bring our younger players through. We think we’ve got a good core of top end experienced players and will stick with the plan.
“Injuries this year haven’t helped us advance the plan to where we wanted it to be. That plan hasn’t been able to come to fruition because of the amount of football guys like Morgan, Holmes and McLean have missed.
“If our younger players continue to develop at the rate they are and we can put them in with our top end talent then we think we will have a side that’s more than competitive.”
Meanwhile, the Storm will continue pressing on for a top two finish to the season which will see them play home finals at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, a venue they have enjoyed plenty of success at.
The Storm haven’t won the NRL premiership since the 2017 triumph against the Cowboys and few titles would be sweeter to win than the unique 2020 competition which has forced them to relocate interstate to compete for.
Originally published as NRL 2020: Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys have gone separate ways since 2017 grand final