Beasts to meet at speed in high-octane culture clash at GIO Stadium
North Queensland Cowboys have, as they say, points in 'em. But they'll have Canberra Raiders in their very faces when sixth-placed Raiders host 12th-placed Cowboys on Friday night at GIO Stadium
AND so to GIO for Dangerous Cows, and a clash of styles and cultures and beast-masters.
Them: sizzling backline capable of hot-funk and derring-do.
Us: gritty workhorse scrappers and brawlers, and yardsmen, and dock-workers populating gritty working man’s bars where black market goods are bought and sold by eastern European merchant sailors, and so on.
And yet, it’s not the full story of tonight’s fixture in which sixth-placed Raiders take on 12th-placed Cows. For Canberra Raiders have some light-footed funkmen of their own.
What the funk? Look no further than Xavier Savage, friend, whose nimble work on the left wing has been complemented by so many hard charges out of danger. There’s been some body slabbed upon the X-Man in recent seasons, and without losing any pace he’s a highly-effective wide receiver who, next year or three, will wear the maroon of Queensland, and we’ll hate him.
Queenslanders? The Cows have plenty. I fear these people. More attack agents than Sky News After Dark. Luckily, “defending” isn’t really the visitors’ thing. I covered their game against Saints at Kogarah-Jubilee, it was 48-40 or some such malarkey, both sides rolled down field with impunity. There were tighter middles on The Biggest Loser.
And it is here, I believe, in the central corridors of power, where our Canberra Raiders have it over North Queensland Cowboys, because North Queensland Cowboys don’t like it up ‘em.
Granted, few do.
But in those thick, rough, bone-on-bone middle passages, in the so-called engine room, where beasts of meat meet meat at speed (ha!) that I believe our men - Joe Tapine, Josh Papalii, Tom Smithies, Emre Guler, Ata Mariota - outpoint their men because:
Reuben Cotter’s a backrower, Griffin Neame’s a one-trick Clydesdale and Jason Taumalolo’s best rugby league was in 2017 when he signed that sweetheart 10-year, $10 million deal.
Feels like there’s been steady degradation of Taumalolo’s effectiveness since then. And if he plays 30 minutes in attack, you’d say it’s 25 minutes as a carthorse, four minutes having a blow, and one minute the dangerous bad-ass from days of yore. He’ll probably score a hat-trick and stake a claim for an Origin jumper now. But there’s more dangerous Cows, Jeremiah Nanai among them.
Should be a cracking battle between our go-all-day backrowers Elliott Whitehead and Hudson Young, and Nanai and their other edgemen, while our hot-footed halves, Kaeo Weekes and Ethan Strange offer another contrast of playing styles to that of the Cows’ six and seven, Tom Dearden and Chad Townsend.
Their people are highly-effective, first grade footy players. Our guys are baby boys playing first grade footy in a super-fast and physical professional sport, and doing the same thing they’ve done at every level from SG Ball up - run for fun. They also both defend with vigour. I like ‘em.
But won and lost? Scott Drinkwater is their best player and will feed both sides of their back division, and there’s a big job of jamming in or hanging out or something in between ahead for Seb Kris, Matt Timoko, Savage and Nick Cotric, good luck there, men, Val Holmes is a-comin, and Murray Taulagi’s coming with him.
Could be a beauty.
Raiders by six.
Up the Milk.