The Cowboys Conundrum

Jonathan Thurston is one of the best players we have seen over the last 10 years. He has excelled at all levels of the game and has been a great rugby league personality on and off the field. However, he is also the captain of a team who should be a Premiership contender yet are effectively wooden spooners. Unfortunately, in my opinion I see Thurston as a big part of the problems in Townsville.

Thurston Theory

This is NOT a Thurston-bashing piece; I think he is part of the problem but not necessarily responsible. Everyone in the game knows the Cowboys are based around Thurston and generally need him firing to consistently win matches. By his very nature, Thurston comes across as a fairly relaxed guy off the field. He is a damn good competitor on the field, but always carries that big grin and is up for a laugh away from the playing arena.

This relaxed attitude works very well for him and I’m sure is part of the reason he has had such a successful career to date. Thurston can afford to be so relaxed because he has so much natural talent and is such a gifted footballer. For an individual, who produces on the field, that is absolutely fine.

However at the Cowboys, this attitude is where the problem lies.

Thurston, combined with the Townsville lifestyle and relative obscurity of the Cowboys, has rubbed off on his team mates and subsequently rolled through the club. It’s come to a point now where the Cowboys are too relaxed.

On field performances are a reflection of the training paddock and the fact the Cowboys have been slow starters all year and their defence has been horrible, tells me they aren’t doing the work during the week.

Thurston is the captain and needs to be leading by example. When players see him so relaxed and possibly not working as hard as he could at training, it funnels down through the team. The rest of those guys aren’t as naturally gifted as JT and can’t afford to be so relaxed.

The Coach

My theory is that coach Neil Henry has seen this exact thing but can’t quite stamp it out. From time to time we hear of Henry and Thurston not always working on the same page and I think it comes down to the attitude of the two men.

Henry sees a need for adjustment while Thurston is reluctant to change the things that have made him a superstar player. Both guys could probably do things a bit differently but at the end of the day the coach needs to find a way to make it all work.

The Cowboys are almost at the point where they need to bring a Brian Smith in and clean the whole place out. They are in need of an overhaul because, quite frankly, they are in a great location and have too good a team to be running last.

Their underachievement is not limited to 2010, it’s been happening since the 2005 Grand Final.

The Future

I can’t see the coach getting sacked any time soon and that’s fair enough. However he needs to make some tough decisions. Getting Brent Tate next year is a good move but I would also be looking at finding a hard working, no-nonsense forward to join the club next season.

The other move I would make, and this won’t be popular, is taking the captaincy away from Thurston. Tell him to just play his own game and steer the team around the field.

I would make Matt Scott the leader of that club. He has been in the system a while, he’s an Origin player and a solid prop. I think he would be a very good leader of that club and can help bring back the professionalism they seem to be lacking.

TIPPING

Tips – Brisbane, Dragons, Melbourne, Penrith, Manly, Canberra, Roosters, Tigers
Last Week – 3/7
Total – 69/128 (54%)

A full round this weekend so make sure you head out and support your team if possible. I’m making the trip down to the Gold Coast tomorrow night and very much looking forward to what should be a pretty good game of footy. Any comments, or complaints, can find me directly using the button below, on Twitter (@keyto316) or on the email (andrew.keyte@gmail.com).

See you next week,
Keyto