Mahoney’s ‘mongrel’ fine but Cowboys need smarts to win
Joel Gould |
North Queensland signing Reed Mahoney has been hailed for the mongrel he has brought to the team, but the feisty hooker just wants to get his first victory as a Cowboy after a winless start to the season.
The Cowboys lost 28-18 to Newcastle in Las Vegas and last week were woeful in a 44-16 defeat at the hands of Wests Tigers away.
Their first home game of the season on Sunday against Gold Coast pits them against the third bottom-five side in a row from last year. A win is a must to get their season rolling.
Co-captain Tom Dearden said fixing errors and poor discipline would be key against the Titans and backed former Parramatta and Canterbury hooker Mahoney to fire.
“Reed has been great. His competitive spirit and drive has rubbed off on the group. He has been a great help in huddles and brings that bit of mongrel that inspires the players,” Dearden said.
“Hopefully we can be more disciplined and build more pressure and we will really get to see what he can do.”
Last week the Cowboys made 13 errors and missed 46 tackles. Mahoney made 40 tackles but missed six.
“Last week we missed the mark as a team and we’ve looked each other in the eyes and ourselves and we are keen to grind a win out,” Mahoney said.
When told of Dearden’s praise for his “mongrel”, Mahoney said adding smarts to the Cowboys’ play would be necessary to complement the acknowledged desire.
“That’s just who I am. I am just competitive and there are a few boys like myself in the team,” Mahoney said.
“I think we have been really brave the last few weeks but sometimes that doesn’t get you as far as you want. We’ve got to be more detailed in certain areas of our game and I think if we keep being brave and getting the detail right it will get us where we want to go.”
“We’ve got a chance now to play in front of our home fans and hopefully we can start our season off with a win.”
The Cowboys trailed 28-2 at half-time last week and Dearden said it was paramount the side got more physical and fixed the poor discipline.
“The most exciting thing about our group is that we’ve got a group that is very competitive and want to get better,” Dearden said.
“You can feel that at training. There are so many people that care and have a passion for turning our club around.”
AAP