By Billie Eder
The Panthers missed the experience of a host of senior players as two of the most Origin-affected sides in the competition went head-to-head in Penrith on Sunday.
With the Panthers and Cowboys missing a combined 10 players due to the Origin II in Melbourne on Wednesday night, the home side lacked direction in a 16-6 defeat to North Queensland.
Brian To’o, Dylan Edwards, Jarome Luai and Liam Martin were all rested for the Panthers, while the Cowboys were missing Reece Robson, Tom Dearden, Reuben Cotter, Valentine Holmes, Jeremiah Nanai and Murray Taulagi.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said the team lacked cohesion.
“That’s definitely part of it [missing Origin players]. The connection wasn’t quite there tonight, particularly around where we finished up our sets,” he said. “If you’re not really taking opportunities at the right time, that’s part of it ... we just probably didn’t throw enough at them, there’s a little lack of cohesion.”
Even with two first-half sin-binnings for North Queensland, the Panthers were only able to muster six points for the game, with the Cowboys’ scrambling goal-line defence too good for a clunky Panthers attack.
North Queensland’s Jaxon Purdue is sent to the sin-bin.Credit: Getty Images
Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater was the first to go to the bin, in the 13th minute for a professional foul after the visitors had given away three repeat sets in front of their line.
But the Cowboys were able to score, even with a man in the bin, after Kyle Feldt ran 60 metres from an intercept before Braidon Burns dived over for the try.
It was a gallant effort from North Queensland, who kept the Panthers scoreless during while down Drinkwater, but the Panthers finally found a crack after Jaxon Purdue was sent to the bin for a trip on Daine Laurie.
Brad Schneider got the Panthers’ only points during that time, slipping through the Cowboys’ line to go over next to the posts.
Brad Schneider scores the Panthers only try on Sunday afternoon. Credit: Getty Images
But Cleary said the team struggled so break open the game even after those first points for Schneider.
“The rest of the night it felt like we were building towards something, but never kind of [got there]. It was like baking a cake and having no icing,” Cleary said.
Isaah Yeo was the only Origin player to back up, and the Panthers found some rhythm when the captain came onto the field after 20 minutes, but North Queensland rose to the challenge.
Schneider’s kicking game was hot and cold, with fans and players beginning to pine for the premiership-winning combination of Luai and Nathan Cleary.
The Panthers are hopeful Cleary will make a comeback against the Dolphins in round 20.
North Queensland moved into the top eight for the first time since round seven. Coach Todd Payten said it was a gutsy performance from the team.
“It’s probably [most] mature performance we’ve put in,” he said. “We had some adversity, defending with 12 for 20 minutes, and then our scramble on our try line, stopping tries and that second half we just didn’t make na error coming out of our own end, and field position won us the game.”
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