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Murray Taulagi dunks on Reece Walsh to score for the Cowboys. Photo / Photosport
Cowboys 48
Warriors 4
Another week, another Warriors humiliation.
After a gutsy win against the Bulldogs last weekend, the Auckland club couldn’t back it up, smashed 48-4 by the North Queensland Cowboys on Friday.
Like so many of their matches this season, the contest was over by halftime, when two quick tries before the break extended the Cowboys advantage to 20 points.
It continued a familiar pattern, with the Warriors failing to maintain their standards week to week. They were dominated at the ruck, loose on defence and out of sync on attack, as the Cowboys scored eight tries and could have had a few more.
But the more obvious truth is the Warriors can’t compete with the big NRL teams.
The gulf in class is too great and it is accentuated with their lack of confidence, belief and cohesion.
This result will be particularly painful for Warriors faithful, as the different trajectories of the clubs couldn’t be more stark.
Both franchises have struggled in recent seasons and the Cowboys finished below the Warriors on the NRL ladder in both 2020 and 2021.
But while those days of woe are a distant memory for North Queensland, it’s a grim reality for the Warriors. The second-place Cowboys are going places, while the Warriors are treading water.
North Queensland are fit, fast, focused and functional. They are well structured on attack and ruthless without the ball. The Warriors have their moments of effort and execution, but never for long enough.
On Friday there was little second phase play and even less anticipation, especially off prop Addin Fonua-Blake, as his regular efforts to poke through the line weren’t rewarded with a passing option.
But the main issue was defensive.
After doing well to restrict the Cowboys to two tries in the first 36 minutes, everything collapsed, as they leaked four in the next 10 minutes.
Everything that is wrong with the Warriors was summed up by the first try, as Coen Hess isolated fullback Reece Walsh to power over. After a short goal line dropout had gone wrong, a simple pass from dummy half was enough to create the gap.
It soon got worse, as Murray Taulagi finished in the corner off a move that while slick, felt like a training ground manoeuvre.
Things threatened to go wrong real fast, but the Warriors managed to stem the tide for a period; they toughened their defence and worked into the arm wrestle.
Centre Marcelo Montoya went close – held up after soaring to take a Johnson bomb – before he was rewarded for persistence in the 33rd minute, following up after Ed Kosi kept a Daejarn Asi chip in play.
That should have been a chance to consolidate but instead there was a trademark lapse, triggered by Walsh shelling a Cowboys kick.
Jeremiah Nanai powered across a few plays later, before former Warrior Peta Hiku finished one of the team tries of the season, after the Warriors couldn’t shut the ball down a few seconds before halftime.
It’s the kind of brain fade that rarely happens with other teams but is a constant possibility with the Auckland club.
From there it was all downhill. Tom Dearden zipped over a minute after halftime, through a yawning gap, then later completed his brace, with Luciano Leilua and Chad Townsend joining in the try feast.
Only a brilliant Dallin Watene-Zelezniak tackle to save a try – along with some wasteful play from the Cowboys – prevented the half century.
Cowboys 48 (Tom Dearden 2, Coen Hess, Murray Taulagi, Jeremiah Nanai, Peta Hiku, Luciano Leilua, Chad Townsend tries; Valentine Holmes 7 cons, pen)
Warriors 4 (Marcelo Montoya try)
Halftime: 24-4
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