Talk of the Townsend column: The crucial moments North Queensland Cowboys keep getting wrong

One of my coaches once told me, “You get what you deserve.” These are crucial times of the game we have not gotten right over the opening three weeks of the competition.

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One of my coaches once told me, “You get what you deserve.” I’ll get back to this later in the column.

Last week we ran into a reenergised Warriors team. We had what was a relatively decent preparation. We had a few changes to our team with Scott Drinkwater and Peta Hiku suspended following the Broncos game the week before. This gave some of our younger guys an opportunity to play.

Local Townsville juniors Thomas Chester and Gehamat Shibasaki came into the starting line up. This was a great reward for both of these guys who have had a great pre season and great trial form.

TALK OF THE TOWNSEND ROUND 1: Setting up the winning field goal shot

Chad Townsend passes against the Warriors in Round Three. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Once again we came out of the blocks scoring early with a try to Tom Chester. Not long after this we gave away a crucial p6 again on tackle five which gave the Warriors some good field position which they capitalised on. Straight after this we were able to bounce back and jag another try, this time to Reece Robson who was pushing up through the middle.

As the first half went on we continued to make a number of unforced errors. This allowed the Warriors to build some pressure with field possession and which forced us to come out of our own end. The errors we are making are not from being too flashy with the ball, they’re not from trying to force offloads, they’re simply concentration errors which can be fixed straight away.

This is a huge work on for our team right now. We need to concentrate on our jobs when we have the ball and build pressure on the opposition. We proceeded after errors allowing tries to the Warriors just before and just after half time. These are crucial times of the game we have not gotten right over the opening 3 weeks of the competition.

Overall we made a total of 12 errors which is far too many for the standards we set. We also controlled 46% of the ball which for your team to have a chance of winning you must be at the 50% mark. Our competition was also 75% which we need to be well up over 80%.

Chad Townsend during warm-up against the Warriors. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

We have a very narrow focus on where our improvement lies. Ball control, build pressure and play the game the right way. The way we are coached. The best thing about the NRL is that it’s all on again this week and I speak on behalf of all the players in saying that we cannot wait to get out there and put in a good performance for all of our members and fans.

And as I said at the top, “You get what you deserve”. If you make errors and defend poorly, you lose. If you play the game the right way with control, you win.

See you at the game.

CT

Originally published as Talk of the Townsend column: The crucial moments North Queensland Cowboys keep getting wrong