They are the NRL’s likeable entertainers, plying their trade away from the spotlight on the country’s northern fringe. But on the eve of the finals, North Queensland Cowboys have become something more.
“There were four of us in the comp, and now we’re the lone Queensland team,” winger Murray Taulagi says, preparing for Sunday’s elimination final against Newcastle. “We’ve got to put Queensland on our back.”
This season had looked promising for three of Queensland’s four clubs. Brisbane lost last year’s decider to Penrith in heartbreaking circumstances, and after winning seven of their first 11 games looked primed for a post-season run. But their finals hopes were extinguished in the penultimate round by cross-town rivals the Dolphins.
Yet last week the Redcliffe outfit were also eliminated when they were beaten by the Knights in Newcastle. It left the Cowboys as the last club based north of the Tweed still standing.
The Cowboys have been inundated this week with media interest, from the North Queensland region and beyond. “A couple of people flew up here, so it’s a bit weird having a lot of media attention,” Taulagi says. “We’re normally one of the pretty quiet teams in the NRL.”
There could be no better side to carry the state’s hopes. The Cows’ free-flowing style under Todd Payten – who was part of the skilful Wests Tigers pack that helped defeat North Queensland in the famous 2005 grand final – is easy on the eye.
Only the Roosters and Storm have scored more points this season, and goal-kicking centre Val Holmes leads the league in point-scoring. Veteran winger Kyle Feldt – who will leave the Cowboys after 12 years for English club St Helens – is second among all try-scorers. And livewire fullback Scott Drinkwater leads the competition in linebreak assists.
“I feel like we’ve got players in our team that are very likeable,” Taulagi says. “And I think that helps with neutral fan bases around Sydney and down in Brisbane.”
The club secured a home final against the Knights by thrashing the Bulldogs 44-6 in Sydney in the final round. Taulagi believes the victory against another finals contender can give them confidence in a wide-open premiership race.
“We played Melbourne the week before [a 38-30 Cowboys win against an under-strength Storm], and I don’t think that we played our best there,” Taulagi says. “We came into the week against the Doggies with a different mindset, and didn’t really pay much attention to who they had in the squad or the media hype around their team, and their home ground advantage, and just narrowed down our focus and kept it to ourselves.”
The side looms as the biggest premiership threat outside the top four. In the past two months, the Cowboys have lost just one game and successfully adapted to life with new halfback Jake Clifford.
The 26-year-old was elevated into first grade last month after a strong season in the Queensland Cup, ahead of veteran Chad Townsend who is moving to the Roosters next year. The surprise move was made to stiffen up the side’s defence, and it was one Payten has admitted caused him to lose sleep.
Backrower Jeremiah Nanai says the switch has given the team a boost. “We’ve changed our halfback now and we’re trying to find that combination with ‘Cliffo’,” he says. “We’re syncing in pretty well, and I think it’s come at the right time, that we all got behind him together, working as a team now, and I think that’s what we needed.”
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After the club missed the top eight in 2023, Saturday will be the first finals match in Townsville since the Cowboys lost the 2022 preliminary final against Parramatta. In the match that finished 24-20, the Eels were wrongly awarded a try after a forward pass that wasn’t called.
Taulagi is eager to make amends, and expects the town to come alive in the days leading up to Sunday. “I remember 2022 when we played the prelim up here, that was crazy,” he says. “The town was buzzing, and it was very busy all week, people flying in from Sydney and whatnot.”
Their opponents are also coming in on a high after beating the Dolphins to secure a finals place. In Sunday’s match, fullback Kalyn Ponga – another Queenslander – proved the difference, creating two tries and running for 160 metres.
Nanai is wary of the threat of his Maroons teammate. “They’ve got a good attacking side, their fullback’s good, and I’m sure he’s going to be leading that team,” he says. “I think we’ve just got to focus on ourselves like we did last week, focus on our defence too.”
For neutrals, that’s a large part of the Cowboys appeal; the team’s brilliant point-scoring has this season been accompanied by defensive deficiencies. No team in the top eight has conceded more.
Getting the balance right, Taulagi concedes, is still a work in progress. “We are trying to fix up our defence, attack seems to come more naturally for us as a team,” he says. “We want to be known for our defence, but yeah, our attack always seems to outshine that department.”
