Cowboys get ultimate ‘payback’ on Tigers with 74-point ‘massacre’ in 88-year first

The North Queensland Cowboys have exacted revenge on the Wests Tigers with the “most lopsided, one-way traffic” games ever seen.

The Cowboys were scoring tries for fun. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

In the words of basketball legend Michael Jordan, the North Queensland Cowboys took their shock thrashing at the hands of the Wests Tigers earlier this season personally.

The Tigers beat the Cowboys 66-18 at Leichhardt Oval in Round 12 in a result that prompted many pundits to put a line through North Queensland’s premiership hopes.

Watch every game of every round of the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

But the Cowboys have since turned a corner, beating the Panthers, Storm and Rabbitohs in the past three matches to get their season back on track.

That continued in Townsville on Saturday night as they defeated a hapless and helpless Tigers outfit 74-0, scoring a mammoth 13 tries.

Fox League’s Dan Ginnane said: “The North Queensland Cowboys have annihilated the West Tigers. It’s been a massacre.”

North Queensland scored seven tries in the first half and led 42-0 at halftime as the Cowboys ran riot in an all-time demolition job.

It was too easy for the COwboys (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Tom Dearden ran riot. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Five-eighth Tom Dearden opened the scoring in the 14th minute before the floodgates well and truly opened.

Dearden and fullback Scott Drinkwater ran riot, waltzing through the Tigers’ defence as Drinkwater scored a first half double.

Semi Valemei, Luciano Leilua, Murray Taulagi and Valentine Holmes also scored tries in the first half.

Put a line through the Tigers ladies and gentlemen. No team has ever recovered from such a rubbish defensive effort like this and come back to win the premiership. #NRLCowboysTigers

— Scott Bailey (@ScottBaileyAAP) July 1, 2023

Yvonne Sampson said on Fox League: “North Queensland look like they’ve made this really personal.

“It feels like they’re looking to eclipse the 66 points just to put it really in the rear vision mirror.”

Cooper Cronk added: “This is the most lopsided, one-way traffic 40 minutes I’ve ever seen. The Cowboys have used the emotion of the defeat and turned it into an avalanche of tries.”

To make matters worse for the Tigers, they were down to 12 men when Alex Twal was sin binned for a hip drop tackle on Leilua in the first half.

Jeremiah Nanai celebrates one of 13 tries for the Cowboys. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

The onslaught didn’t end in the second half either as the Cowboys notched up 50, then 60, then cracked the 70-point milestone while the Tigers remained scoreless.

Taulagi finished with a hat-trick, Holmes, Valemei and Drinkwater had doubles, while Jeremiah Nanai and Jordan McLean also scored late tries.

It’s the biggest scoreline seen in Australian rugby league since 1935, third biggest of all-time and eclipses the biggest win in the NRL era.

The 74-point winning margin to the Cowboys’, combined with the 48-point losing margin to the Tigers earlier this year adds up to a remarkable 122-point turnaround betweent the two teams.

The previous record for a reversal in results was a 106-point turnaround between the Dragons and Storm in 2000.

“Spoke about it all week - a bit of payback back at home,” Drinkwater told Fox League post-game.

Drinkwater added: “Payback’s a B”.

He said the beatdown six week ago was on their minds as coach Payten put up the scoreline around the training paddock throughout the week.

With a haul of 30 points (two tries, 11/13 conversions), Holmes smashed the record for the most points scored by a Cowboys player in an NRL game, beating Johnathan Thurston (twice, both in 2006) and Josh Hannay’s (2003) record of 24 points.

North Queensland’s previous biggest winning margin was also against the Tigers in a 58-point win in 2014.