Cowboys fullback Lachlan Coote re-lives finals nightmare against Sharks

COWBOYS fullback Lachlan Coote had declared he was ready for whatever the Sharks thrust his way at following his howler of a night against the Broncos. He wasn’t ...

It was a case of deja vu for Lachlan Coote against the Sharks. Picture: Peter Wallis

IT took just two minutes for the first crack to appear.

Cowboys fullback Lachlan Coote had declared he was ready for whatever the Sharks thrust his way at Allianz Stadium following his howler of a night against the Broncos.

Coote made three crucial errors in last weekend’s epic win against the Broncos, leading Sharks coach Shane Flanagan to publicly declare Cronulla would target North Queensland’s No.1.

And the Sharks followed through with their threats.

Coote failed his first test, fumbling a spiralling bomb much to the delight of the Sharks faithful.

It was a mistake Coote would make two or three times in a season and a preliminary final was not the occasion to be making such a pedestrian error.

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It was a case of deja vu for Lachlan Coote against the Sharks. Picture: Peter Wallis

There were shades of Canterbury’s Martin Bella, who dropped the ball from a kick-off in the 1994 grand final at the same venue.

The Bulldogs went on to lose that game to Canberra 36-12. They were never in the contest, much like the Cowboys at their house of horrors.

Coote went some way to redeeming himself when he pulled Wade Graham down with a fantastic try-saving tackle but just minutes later nearly made a massive error.

Coote watched a bouncing ball fall into the grasp of Sharks halfback Chad Townsend, who only just missed grounding the ball in what would have been an embarrassing try for North Queensland to concede.

The Cowboys made too many simple mistakes to ever have a chance of challenging the rampant Sharks.

Kyle Feldt kicked a drop-out over the sideline on the full. Javid Bowen spilt the ball trying to play it and Justin O’Neill put it down with an overlap looming.

At halftime they had made seven errors to Cronulla’s three and made nearly 60 more tackles.

Those are numbers you cannot fight back from in a preliminary final against a team of Cronulla’s calibre.

It just wasn’t to be for the Cowboys and it only took two minutes for their season to start crashing down.

Originally published as Cowboys fullback Lachlan Coote re-lives finals nightmare against Sharks