What would club legend Tommy Raudonikis think of this rabble?

The Wests Tigers celebrated club legend Tommy Raudonikis on Sunday but their players let them down with a woeful first half.

Cowboys halfback Scott Drinkwater dives over to score against Wests Tigers

You can only imagine what Tommy would have thought. On a day when the Wests Tigers celebrated the life of one of their greatest players, they produced the sort of insipid and embarrassing performance that would have had Tommy Raudonikis turning the air blue with invective.

Raudonikis was a warrior. When he ran on to the field, you knew what you got. He gave everything he had. Contrast that with the performance of the Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

For 40 minutes at Leichhardt Oval, the hill packed and emotions running high, the Tigers were gutless. They were pathetic. They played with no fight or fire. Their supporters booed them off the field at halftime.

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It was all they deserved as they shamed the Tigers jersey.

A bit of perspective. The Cowboys came into Sunday afternoon’s game without a win, having conceded an average of more than 30 points a game over the opening four rounds.

They had their highest-paid player, Michael Morgan, retire during the week. Their next best, Jason Taumalolo, was sidelined with injury. Throw in Josh McGuire and they had about $3m on the sidelines.

Against that backdrop, they toyed with the Tigers. They had their way with them. Raudonikis may have been watching from above, but chances are he would have turned away after the opening 40 minutes. Either that, or he would have put his first through the television screen.

There was no excuse for the Tigers performance and coach Michael Maguire didn’t try to find any either. He bit his tongue for fear of what he would say. Perhaps he should have unleashed. Tommy would have. He wouldn’t have let his players off the hook after they embarrassed the club with their efforts in the opening half.

This was a day when they didn’t need to look far for inspiration. There was an image of Raudonikis on a wall in theTigers dressing sheds. The club retired the No 7 jersey for the day — halfback Luke Brooks ran out in 22. What ensued was nothing short of an abomination. By halftime, the Cowboys were leading 28-6.

Asked how he would describe his side’s first half, an emotional Maguire replied: “It was there to be seen. It was poor. I will go and have a look at the video but I will hold my confidence at the moment until I have a look at it again because it is definitely not what the Wests Tigers are about.

“The players know what they need to do. We need to have a good look at where we are at and move forward. I know I have a team here. It’s not good enough.”

No argument there. Captain James Tamou spent the entire second half on the sidelines as his side chased points. If Maguire had his way, you get the sense he would have replaced the lot of them at halftime.

Somehow, they almost conjured a miracle. They scored four tries in 10 minutes at one point and a contentious refereeing decision from the video bunker in the final minutes deprived the game of a thrilling finale.

In truth, the Tigers didn’t deserve to get close. Cowboys coach Todd Payten was a relieved figure afterwards. His side has been poor through the opening month of the year, but they turned it on at a ground where they hadn’t won for 20 years.

The last time the Cowboys won at Leichhardt Oval, Queensland coach Paul Green was their halfback. It was another half — Scott Drinkwater — who orchestrated Sunday afternoon’s win.

He terrorised the Tigers with his kicking and passing. The writing was on the wall from the second minute when Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow raced into space and kicked for himself to score. The Cowboys did what they wanted for the remainder of the half.

“I am just happy that we got away with it,” Payten said. “That last 20, 25 minutes seemed to go for a bloody long time. But that is a good lesson for us today, that if we play the right way we can score points.”

The Cowboys finished the game with hooker Jake Granville in the centres. Hooker Reece Robson was in the back row.

“We hung in there enough,” Payten said. “I guess getting their monkey off the back — it was certainly a different changeroom. That part was enjoyable.”

“We have some ability. We just need to learn to play the right way consistently.”