Tate urges Cowboys to ‘make history’
|
By Joel Gould in Brisbane
North Queensland have the chance to make club history and finish in the top two for the first time, and former centre Brent Tate has urged the players to seize the day.
The Cowboys are in their 28th season and, despite making the finals 10 times, they have never finished in the top two or hosted a preliminary final.
The NRL moved to their current finals format in 2012 where the top two sides are now guaranteed two home finals.
Since then, Melbourne have secured seven top-two finishes and won three of five grand finals, proving the advantages of a top-two result.
“It is incredible to think the Cowboys have never finished second or had that opportunity to host a prelim’,” Tate told AAP.
“That is a real carrot for the Cowboys because two games up here would be nothing short of incredible. The whole town would go off.
“I had the opportunity to play finals up here against the Broncos and you feel the whole town get behind you.
“Teams have got to travel to unfamiliar territory up here and this year the Cowboys have made their home a real fortress. I get the feeling if they did have two semis here they would be sell-outs.”
North Queensland, on 34 competition points, play South Sydney (away) and Penrith (home) in the final two rounds and due to their far better for-and-against over Cronulla, they will finish second with two wins.
“I don’t think that is a bad thing. It will get them battle-hardened for the next tough month of footy,” Tate said.
“The next two weeks the Cowboys will get a good look at what their game looks like under pressure. That is a real good lead-in to the semis. They should embrace it, and run with it.”
Five-eighth Tom Dearden is out of Saturday night’s clash against the Rabbitohs with a ruptured testicle. The Cowboys have named Scott Drinkwater to shift to No.6 with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to start at fullback.
“Part of me would be reluctant to move Scott because he is going so well at fullback but he seems to be in complete control of his game, so if there is a time to do it then it is now,” Tate said.
“It is a good chance for Hammer to get more game time ahead of the semis.”
AAP
