Jason Taumalolo says the Cowboys will embrace a power game in 2016
LED by man-mountain Jason Taumalolo, the Cowboys intend to defend their NRL title by embracing a power game in the middle of the field.
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NORTH Queensland will be the schoolyard bullies of the NRL this season, unveiling a power game aimed at belting rival teams out of the game.
Cowboys international forward Jason Taumalolo said there was a new intent in Townsville to steamroll opposing sides early in games.
The Cowboys unveiled the plan against Leeds, a physical team who are coached by a former heavyweight boxing champion of the Royal Marines.
Taumalolo buried one Leeds defender with a brutal bump. To their credit Leeds replied in kind, but the plan worked as the Rhinos were worn down and North Queensland’s classy backline ran riot in the second half.
“The power game is big for us,” Taumalolo said. “We want to power through teams.
“We went out there and tried to do that in the first 15 minutes of the game and it was a physical contest and eventually in the second half our game came through.
“These boys (Leeds) are really physical and they stuck it to us in the 20 minutes of the game. We eventually got there though.”
The Cowboys may be reigning premiers but Taumalolo said they still needed to ensure they did not fall into their old habit of starting the season slowly.
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The Cowboys face a talented Cronulla Sharks line-up in Round 1. The Cowboys belted the Sharks at home in last year’s final series but Cronulla have perhaps the best crop of young talent in the competition.
The Cowboys’ pre-season is very different this year with the World Club Challenge ensuring they have bonded again as they lived in each other’s pockets for 10 days.
“It has been a different situation for us this year,’’ Taumololo said. “I am confident we will turn up firing instead of having a slow start.
“We have to turn up in Round 1 and take the fight to the Sharks instead of getting the first couple of tries scored against us and end up having to chasing the game.”
Johnathan Thurston said the Cowboys Round 1 performance left a lot of room for improvement.
“We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us. Round 1 is around the corner and we were a little bit scratchy in the first half which is expected when you’re in your first hitout,” he said.
“We were able to run away with it. I thought we defended extremely well off the back of our errors, and there were a fair few (errors) in the first half.’’
Originally published as Jason Taumalolo says the Cowboys will embrace a power game in 2016
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