By Fraser Barton
North Queensland have served up a cold dish of revenge in a record 74-0 thrashing of Wests Tigers in front of a sell-out crowd in Townsville.
Six weeks after the Tigers humbled the Cowboys 66-18 in Sydney, the hosts ran in 13 unanswered tries to record the biggest winning margin of the NRL era.
The margin eclipses Parramatta’s 74-4 defeat of Cronulla in 2003.
It is also the third highest of all time behind Canterbury’s 85-point and 80-point losses to St George and Eastern Suburbs respectively in 1935.
Seven tries were scored in the first half and six in the second as records fell at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
The Cowboys posted their highest score and victory margin and hit 50 points for the first time under coach Todd Payten while inflicting the hapless Tigers’ worst loss.
The 74-point winning margin, added to the 48-point losing margin to the Tigers earlier this year, makes for a 122-point turnaround between the two teams. The previous record was 106 points between the Dragons and Storm in 2000.
The Cowboys delighted a sell-out home crowd on Saturday night.Credit: Getty
“No excuses. We just missed too many tackles, we had 37 per cent possession,” Tigers coach Tim Sheens said. “I mean, please, you can’t win a game like that, not against a side as good as they have.
“We’ve just got to shake it off and wear the embarrassment of it, it is embarrassing to get beat by that score for the whole club, not just players but coaches, everyone.”
Valentine Holmes also registered the most individual points in a game by a Cowboys player, scoring 30 to surpass Johnathan Thurston and Josh Hannay who had 24-point hauls.
Scott Drinkwater ran amok and continued his scintillating form with two tries, three try-assists, four line-assists and two tackle-busts.
Drinkwater likened the game to a training run, admitting the club had spoken about revenge all week.
“Toddy put up the scoreline around the training centre [of the game] at Leichhardt,” he told Fox Sports. “It was very personal for us. It was something we were definitely not proud of, something we didn’t want to be a part of.”
Tom Dearden was exceptional and bagged a try, six tackle-busts, three line-assists and a career-high four try assists.
Murray Taulagi registered a second career hat-trick, Holmes had two tries and Semi Valemei also collected a double.
Biggest winning margins in premiership history
1. 85 St George v Canterbury 91–6 1935
2. 80 Eastern Suburbs v Canterbury 87–7 1935
3. 74 North Queensland v Wests Tigers 74–0 2023
North Queensland accumulated 2072 run metres to the Tigers’ 902 in a complete and utter domination.
It all kicked off after 14 minutes.
The Tigers’ misery and North Queensland’s euphoria began off a Coen Hess break in midfield with Dearden dummying through a defensive line to begin the avalanche.
Junior Tupou spilled a Chad Townsend bomb following a strong Cowboys set from the restart and Valemei pounced, before the Cowboys made it three tries in as many sets when Dearden scampered down the blindside.
Dearden found Drinkwater, who offloaded to Luciano Leilua for a try against his former club.
He was in the mix again minutes later, this time sending David Nofoaluma spinning with a wicked step after some sumptuous reverse passes with Holmes and Taulagi.
His break led to Drinkwater scoring his first, with a second to follow shortly after when the fullback ran a tight line off Townsend’s shoulder in a silky move.
Alex Twal was sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle on Leilua and the Cowboys ran in two more tries through Taulagi and Holmes to set their biggest half-time score in club history and average more than a point a minute.
In the second half, Valemei and Taulagi crossed within 10 minutes after the restart before Taulagi crossed for two more tries.
Jeremiah Nanai joined the action with one of his own and in the final minute, Jordan McLean joined the long list of scorers to bring up 70 points off a Reece Robson grubber kick.
AAP