QUICK WRAP: Cowboys vs Dragons

13 May 2023 - North Queensland play St George Illawarra in round 11 of the NRLM season in the Saturday evening slot at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville

May 13, 2023

Was the game worth watching?

While 14th versus 16th doesn't sound like an enticing prospect for your Saturday evening, it is the perfect yardstick to help answer a simple question: are the Cowboys back?

This is the kind of match that the team we thought the Cowboys were in preseason would've destroyed, and is the kind of match that would suit a Cowboys side that is indeed back, but the Cowboys that we've seen so far in 2023, except for last week’s victory of what was supposed to be a good Roosters side, would probably lose.

Despite this intrigue, given that I think the Dragons are the most reprehensible organisation in the entire National Rugby League, I really only recommend this to fans of the winning side.

Final result

Eye test

Unfortunately, like the Cowboys’ previous game, this match provides inconclusive evidence as to whether North Queensland are back. There are two reasons I think that. Firstly, the Cowboys attack looked amazing with the notable qualification that was while they had an extra pair of hands against a pretty bad team. During the 60 minutes excluding the binning and the final ten, they were better than their opposition but not to the degree that anyone would want to see.

Secondly, the Cowboys’ defence was barely tested. The Dragons could not get a single damn thing going, preferring to drop the ball instead of running actual plays. Whether that’s the local conditions, fatigue from the defensive workload or incompetence, I will leave as an exercise to the reader. When the Dragons did threaten, it wasn’t that difficult for them to find holes.

Andrew Voss was unusally cognisant when he said, “There’s loads of room for improvement but winning sure beats losing”.

Stats

It didn’t take a particularly sharp eye to catch the Cowboys absolutely gutting the Dragons with line breaks, particularly during their power play and to a lesser extent during the 13-on-13 phase of the match. Given a relatively even break down of errors and penalties, and a combined 68% completion rate, that was the difference on the night.

Considering North Queensland won’t be afforded the opportunity to run rampant against the better teams, not without significant improvements elsewhere on the field, the advanced metrics are misleading. For Cowboys fans moving forward, the key stat is metres per set. The Cowboys had more attempts with the ball, even if they had slightly less possession, and eked out a victory in the yardage battle but, taking into account the attempts, they were about on par with the Dragons. Given that the Dragons pack is rated about the middle of the league, and the Cowboys’ to date has not been, maybe that should be seen as a much needed improvement for now, with Nanai and Taumalolo still to come back into the side.

Did you notice?

As suggested in Stats Drop in round 9, the Cowboys’ lack of success is because the forwards are not doing their job. This doesn’t entirely boil down to two things but these two things certainly don’t help: a lack of post-contact metres and being unable to get down on their front to play the ball quickly.

Post-contact metres wear out the opposition and get the attack further down the field, threatening to bust through the defensive line. Getting down on the front to play the ball quickly keeps the attack rolling and the defense on the backfoot. Good teams will do both, mediocre teams will do one or the other and bad teams do neither.

Reece Robson had a great game. His scoots from dummy half eviscerated the Dragons. Look at the pre-existing conditions of these three scoots. Notice that the forward gets down on his front, plays the ball quickly enough that the markers aren’t in place, if they’re there at all, and Robson spots this and takes off.

While Valentine Holmes is obviously not a forward, the tactic applies to any sufficiently similar situation with a hard run, quick play the ball and Robson ready to go.

Good things happen off the back of these scoots. Given the Cowboys seem to be in the bad team category, i.e. they neither make post-contact metres nor get down on their front regularly, it really limits Robson’s ability to spot tired defenders and markers out of position and profit. Payten needs to be thinking about how he can replicate these circumstances in normal play because it’s clear that when Robson cooks, the backs can feast.

Boxscores

Notes

While I rightly make a big deal about the Cowboys only really pushing ahead with a one-man advantage, not only did Kyle Feldt do really well to even draw the binning in the first place, the whole team deserves a wrap for taking the opportunity when presented. They just need more of it because it’s clearly there.
You can’t let definitely-not-a-rapist Jack de Belin stunt on you in the 6th minute. That should be a crime that sends you straight to The Hague, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
When people talk about Drinkwater’s defence, watch him get flicked off by Ravalawa on the way to his try or his positioning on the Su’A try. It’s Puig Aubert levels of allergies to defence.
Drinkwater kept getting caught on the 4th tackle and it happened often enough for me to notice and think that it must have been intentional. It’s weird to think that you wouldn’t want your best attacking weapon available - basically the only reason he’s even starting in first grade - for the 5th tackle option. Except for the situations where Townsend was kicking for yards, those 5th tackles following Drinkwater runs tended to be damp squibs.
Congratulations to Talatau Amone on joining first ballot inductee Jordan Kahu as well as Xavier Coates, Moses Suli and Junior Pauga in the Jordan Kahu Memorial Hall of Fame for Rugby League Players Who Don't Know the 10 Metre Rule.
12 points were scored with less than two minutes left on the clock in what was basically a blowout.
Toby Couchman does a textbook hip drop tackle and gets neither a penalty nor a sin bin. Wonderful work from the NRL.
Blocker referred to the humidity “up there” in Townsville. Mate, you’re not meant to talk about the war, especially not from a studio in Sydney.

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