‘Everyone knows it’s a big no-no’: Cowboys admit to cardinal NRL sin

Reece Robson conceded that the Cowboys had been committing one of rugby league’s cardinal sins far too often through the opening five rounds. Find out how they can clean up their act.

Reece Robson has made more tackles than any other North Queensland player this season. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Cowboys players have revealed the “easy fixes” needed to address their defensive issues ahead of Sunday’s top of the table tussle with Cronulla at Shark Park.

North Queensland has conceded more tries through the middle third of the field than any other team in 2024 with a league-high 13.

Through the first five games of the season, a middle forward has opened the opposition’s scoring on four occasions – often under or beside the posts.

It’s not a new issue for the Cowboys either; last year through the opening 13 rounds, nine had an opposition forward score their first try. Five of those tries were scored by a middle forward.

If you had to pick a theme for training this week, it would be inside shoulders.

Scott Drinkwater said the errors from the Cowboys’ back five was putting too much pressure on their middle forwards. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

“Everything in this game goes hand-in-hand, so obviously we want to defend our inside shoulders and not anyone come through,” fullback Scott Drinkwater said.

“The back five are making a lot of errors and putting our big boys under more pressure than what they need to be under.

“We don’t want to let any soft tries through like we have been, inside shoulders and stuff, so just communicating with each other and talking about who’s got who until the ball gets past you, defend who’s inside you first.

“They’re all easy fixes, it just comes down to concentrating longer when you’re more fatigued.”

Much was said about the Cowboys’ rejigged defensive structures before the season began, but hooker Reece Robson said those changes hadn’t affected the team’s fortitude in the middle.

“I don’t think it comes down to our system, it’s just a few inside shoulders. I think everyone in rugby league knows that it’s a big no-no, we’ve got to make sure we’re honouring our inside shoulder and making sure they’re not coming through us,” Robson said.

“If we can clean that up then our system is working outside of that. It’s just staying honest and keeping our inside shoulders, making sure we’re not turning out on dummies or on leads. If we can clean that up then I think our football rolls off the back of that pretty well.”

“I think everyone in rugby league knows that it’s a big no-no”: Reece Robson. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Robson has made more tackles than any other North Queensland player this season so he knows what he’s talking about.

Veteran middle Jordan McLean said the Cowboys had taken an honest look at themselves following the Eels loss and the defensive errors they had been making were inexcusable.

“There were a lot of easy tries on the weekend and I suppose that’s kind of been – for the first six rounds really – there’s been a lot of easy tries and a lot of tries through the middle, so myself and the rest of the middles need to be better there,” McLean said.

Jordan McLean has been one of the strongest defenders in the Cowboys middle. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

“We’ve got our principles and one of those is if a fella runs on the inside shoulder that you make that tackle. That’s communication between the group and a lot of trust that we need to build.

“The hardest time to communicate is when you’re under fatigues and really you can only replicate that in games under pressure. So we have to be better and it’s got to start in the middle.”

“I don’t like being a team where if you score a try, we’ll score a try.

“You get a lot of confidence from your defence and at the moment we haven’t been defending well.”

The Cowboys will get to test their shoulders against the Sharks on Sunday, kick off is at 4.05pm.

Originally published as ‘Everyone knows it’s a big no-no’: Cowboys admit to cardinal NRL sin