Not even superhuman the efforts from Jason Taumalolo and Reuben Cotter could get the Cowboys into the grand final after falling short of the Eels 24-20 in a thriller in Townsville.
Chad Townsend’s kicking game troubled the Eels at times but he and five-eighth Tom Dearden were relatively contained.
Young gun Jeremiah Nanai and gun fullback Scott Drinkwater were quiet by their standards, but still had some admirable moments.
1. SCOTT DRINKWATER 7.5
Had a nice touch in the lead-up to Murray Taulagi’s try and looked dangerous at times. Finished with 99 running metres, three tackle busts, an offload, a linebreak and a try assist but still seemed relatively contained.
2. KYLE FELDT 6.5
Notched up 146 running metres but other than when he went over the sideline, Feldt didn’t get many opportunities to do what he does best — score tries. Was also caught out defensively in Maika Sivo’s matchwinning try.
3. VALENTINE HOLMES 7.5
Had an uncharacteristic knock-on in a tackle early in the game, but made up for it in the second half when he successfully challenged another knock-on. Had some nice moments on both sides of the ball, including cutting down Clint Gutherson with an ankle tap and throwing a brilliantly-timed pass to set up Murray Taulagi.
4. PETA HIKU 6.5
Was penalised for tackling Clint Gutherson without the ball early in the game and the Eels scored in the next set with Reagan Campbell-Gillard running through him. But topped the run metres for the backs with 170, made 10 tackles with just the one miss and showed plenty of composure to catch a short dropout.
5. MURRAY TAULAGI 7
Damaging on both sides of the ball, nothing up 128 running metres, and four tackles with zero misses, while also scoring in the 52nd minute to extend his side’s lead.
6. TOM DEARDEN 6.5
The young five-eighth was clearly a main subject in the Eels video sessions this week because he was kept relatively contained. Dearden did produce a couple of powerful runs though and made 13 tackles with just one miss.
7. CHAD TOWNSEND 6.5
His kicking game proved troublesome for the Eels early on but he was caught out defensively in Reagan Campbell-Gillard’s try.
8. JORDAN MCLEAN 6
Fell just short of 100 running metres and made 21 tackles but the Cowboys needed more from the veteran prop. McLean also one of the two players Reagan Campbell-Gillard sliced through to score an easy try.
9. REECE ROBSON 7
Provided crisp service from dummy half, as per usual and set up a try. Got 67 running metres and made 38 tackles but did miss five.
10. REUBEN COTTER 8
An absolute powerhouse that was only slightly outshone by the skipper. Scored the Cowboys’ first try of the night, ran for 141 metres and made 42 tackles with zero misses.
11. TOM GILBERT 5.5
Not his best performance. Only took five runs and while he made 21 tackles, he did miss five.
12. JEREMIAH NANAI 7
Looked dangerous every time he touched the ball and came up with a couple of big plays including a one-on-one tackle on Maika Sivo and collecting a Mitchell Moses cross-field kick to shut down an Eels opportunity. Ticked over the 100 metre mark and made 39 tackles — second highest for the Cowboys — but missed four.
13. JASON TAUMALOLO 8
An absolute wrecking ball who made his presence known with some powerful charges off the kick-off. Finished with 193 running metres — the most of any player on the field — five tackle busts and 20 tackles with three misses. But had a couple of moments he’d like back including a sin bin for a high shot and missing a crucial tackle on Campbell-Gillard.
14. HAMISO TABUAI-FIDOW 3
Only came on for final five minutes.
15. LUCIANO LEILUA 7
Crashed over three Eels players to score the Cowboys’ second of the night, notched up 103 running metres and five tackle busts.
16. COEN HESS 4
Only spent 15 minutes on the field, finishing with four runs for 37 metres and nine tackles with zero misses.
17. GRIFFIN NEAME 6
Came up with a couple of bone-crunching tackles and threw an important offload to in the lead-up to a try but could only do so much in his 24 minutes on the field.
