MONDAY: FORMER Bellingen Mapgie junior Shaun Fensom is gearing up for his biggest game of league yet: the Cowboys v Melbourne Storm NRL grand final.
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“Unfortunately for CQ right now great rugby league players don’t come here to play, they have to leave here to play”.
Melbourne have been setting the pace all season and are deserved favourites heading into the grand final. They were underdogs in their qualifying final against the Sharks but sneaked a 15-14 victory, and they were not given much hope of beating the Eels in the semis.
Their big three Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk – in his farewell match for the club – and Billy Slater were hugely influential figures and the contest looked over at halftime. Cronk will leave the club at the end of the year and is expected to retire.
We made him get through a mountain of work previous year in the grand final and tried to fatigue him as much as possible.
The fearless Cowboys rallied with a second half try to Te Maire Martin.
If Melbourne’s season was close to ideal, so too was its grand final display.
“I’d like to think that he’s going to go around again next year”, he said.
“I didn’t really know [whether I’d be back here]”, Slater said after the win, breaking into tears.
Paul Green has got them believing in their systems and therefore you have just got to bring your attitude and form and they have done that and they are willing to do that for each other for 80 minutes.
I expect to see a lot more from Cowboys hooker Jake Glanville, who missed a fair chunk of the season through injury.
A big bonus for the Cowboys as Suliasi Vunivalu spills the ball around halfway after a tackle by Gavin Cooper and Justin O’Neill. Michael Morgan, 8. John Asiata, 9.
In contrast, the money has continued to roll in for Melbourne in Grand Final week, with one UBET punter having $32,000 on a Melbourne Storm win at $1.28.
Cowboys assistant David Fairleigh gave his side a clean bill of health on Wednesday before they flew out to Sydney but not before dropping his guard on Lowe’s condition. Only a fool would discount their chances of another monumental upset. “I know there’s rules and regulations around it, but it’s just a matter of when with him”, Lazarus said.
Cowboys star Michael Morgan said he was embarrassed by the defeat. In March, they signed Jason Taumalolo to a record 10-year contract and will consider a four-or-five year arrangement for Morgan at $800,000 annually. The two are fast becoming North Queensland legends, if they weren’t already.
“He has probably played his best footy with a broken hand”.
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For North Queensland, this might just be the beginning of a bright new day.
