The five areas Cowboys must get right to beat the Brisbane Broncos

Cowboys players and coach Todd Payten have identified five key areas they must get right if they are to overcome the Broncos on Saturday. Find out where the game will be own or lost.

Cowboys players have identified five key areas they must get right if they are to overcome the Brisbane Broncos on Saturday afternoon.

North Queensland’s six-win surge was brought to an abrupt end last week against Queensland rivals the Titans and now the club faces its toughest challenge in months against the in-form Broncos.

However the Cowboys are still riding a six-win streak at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, where they haven’t lost since the Easter weekend against the Dolphins.

Their strong home record will give the team confidence against their traditional adversaries, but only if they can execute these five areas of the game.

Tom Dearden is tackled during the round 22 NRL match between Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

1. SHUT DOWN BRONCO THREATS

When the Cowboys are at their best, they’re nearly impossible to score against.

But with the Broncos scoring their highest points per game average (25.2) since 2002 the Cowboys have their task cut out for them.

Brisbane have won all 14 of their games this season when scoring 18 points or more, however they have just one win from six when scoring less than 18.

Cowboys co-captain Chad Townsend said stopping Brisbane starts with stopping their dangerous fullback.

Reece Walsh breaks away from the defence during round 21. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

“I’ve been really impressed with Reece Walsh. He’s such a dynamic player, the speed he has out the back, the combinations he’s formed with a lot of their teammates,” Townsend said.

“His passing game has been something really great to watch, so he’s someone we’re going to have to do our homework on.

“They’ve got a number of players who are in form and they’ve – bar the past couple of weeks – had the luxury of being able to put the same team in every single week so they’ve got great combinations and we’re going to need to be up for our game and focusing on us.”

Five-eighth Tom Dearden echoed his halves partner’s sentiments.

“They’re playing really good footy at the moment,” Dearden said.

“They’re defending really well and they’re playing really well as a side so they’ve got plenty of dangers but I think this week the focus is just going to be about us and us getting our game right and that’s the most important thing.”

In a boost for the Cowboys’ chances, Brisbane’s veteran halfback Adam Reynolds was ruled out of the match on Friday morning opening the door for rookie Jock Madden to enter the fray.

2. FIX DISCIPLINE

North Queensland has been left defending with 12 men in each of the last two games and Payten said fixing the team’s discipline had been a focus this week.

“In the heat of the battle it’s not always easy to get that part right,” Payten said.

“But I’d like to complete every game from here on in with 13 players on the field at every minute of it. It’s been a challenge.”

Rising star Reuben Cotter conceded discipline had been a major issue in the most recent defeat.

“We were all pretty devastated and disappointed on how we all performed. We weren’t disciplined in the right areas of the game,” Cotter said.

“Something that’s been a thing for us over the past couple of months is playing the game the right way and I just feel like, as a team, we didn’t really focus on that enough and it showed on game day.

“Before halftime we lost a man and that hurts in many ways, it uses up energy up in defence and we were probably a bit too lethargic, and then we started the second half pretty badly as well.”

Reuben Cotter runs the ball during round 21. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Townsend was also left frustrated by his side’s ill-discipline.

“I saw some things in our game which I haven’t seen for quite a while. Some decisions we made with the ball and some decisions we made without the ball were really costly and in turn we were forced to do more work and make more tackles than we needed to,” Townsend said.

“Looking back on it I thought there was a lot of ill-discipline, which was probably the most disappointing thing for us.”

3. DO YOUR JOBS

A common theme this week among the Cowboys playing group was the need to go back to basics and focus on delivering on individual expectations.

Townsend made a call to arms to his troops demanding execution of their roles.

“All of our players know what the expectations are of their jobs. On the weekend I think, to put it plain and simple, we didn’t do that collectively as a team,” Townsend said.

“We’re very clear on what we need to do and how we need to play but on the weekend we just didn’t do that.”

Dearden was left frustrated by the Titans’ defensive efforts to keep North Queensland scoreless in the second half.

“The Titans did a pretty good job at shutting down our attack and I think it’s just something that we’ve got to learn from – being able to adjust on the run and try and find other ways to pull the team apart,” Dearden said.

“It’s probably something that we didn’t do well on Saturday, and that’s why we couldn’t pull them apart. They scrambled really well and did a good job of shutting our attack down.”

As for what happens if the game goes down to the wire, Payten said an unlikely third option to kick a field goal had emerged.

“Well we can’t go to Val,” Payten said.

“We’ve got three halves that kick really well, we got some practise and coordination in around that and even big Luch (Leilua) was slotting them over today – it’s quite impressive what he can do with a football.”

Chad Townsend passes during round 22. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

4. OVERCOME ADVERSITY

Perhaps the biggest question mark for the next four games will be how the Cowboys perform without their star centre Valentine Holmes.

Holmes was sidelined for a careless high tackle forcing a change to the side while young gun Kulikefu Finefeuiaki took a head knock and will not feature against Brisbane.

Townsend said it was part and parcel of any NRL campaign.

“It’s been a little bit of a disruptive year with guys suspended and injuries, and that’s just the NRL season,” Townsend said.

“It doesn’t always go your way and you face adversity and it’s how you bounce back and how you stay mentally strong and overcome the setbacks and adversity and just focus on the things that you can control as an individual – how you train, how you play, how you prepare and I’ll let all that outside noise take care of itself.”

5. DEFEND THE EARLY KICK

A major danger area of Brisbane’s attack is their ability to score tries from kicks early in the set.

Payten identified the Broncos’ penchant for early kicks as something his team needed to be aware of throughout the contest.

“They’ve scored 20 tries off kicks, and only five of those have come on the last play, so they kick early in the sets,” Payten said.

“There are some cues that we need to ID around when it’s going to happen: what part of the field the play-the-ball is, how flat the chasers are, and then we’re going to have to move quick and get the numbers in the picture around the kick.

“So (that’s) another little threat that you heap on with the athletes they’ve got and the shapes and the sequences, it’s another challenge we’re going to have to get right.”

Originally published as The four areas Cowboys must get right to beat the Brisbane Broncos.

Originally published as The five areas Cowboys must get right to beat the Brisbane Broncos