Quality game of football, and hopefully one that sends a message to the NSW selectors that Brett Morris picks himself as James McManus' replacement. He should have been there in the first place.
I will say though the Cowboys got some dubious calls against them for a lot of that second half;
* The penalty kick Soward takes, Cecchin rules that Watts interferes at the ruck. He's pinned down under Weyman, doesn't move, the ball doesn't touch him, nor does Matt Head the dummy half who knocks on... penalty. Go figure.
* The knock on ruling against Luke O'Donnell on the left edge. "He was trying to pass it". Sure he was, again another figment of the referees imagination.
* The not offside call after Soward knocks it down. "He came from an onside position". Beau Scott was a metre in front of Soward and never retreats behind him. Thurston laughs it off. That's about all you can at Tony Archer sometimes.
* The knock on in goal call against Matt Bowen. It's stripped defensively by Boyd over the dead ball line, Bowen's loss of control is only through the strip. It's call a knock in. Woeful call.
Some of the forward passes called/not called were dubious too. Creagh's offload to Cooper was, to be mild, flat at best, and then in the second half Thurston has a short pass onto Tonga that I don't mind being called forward if Creagh's is called forward. Inconsistent application of the rules there.
I don't think two referees is a good system when the second referee is a bloke like Matt Cecchin.
That said, I don't want to take anything away from the Dragons, I'm liking their style of play. They look great under a fair dinkum coach and not an ex player con. The go forward is tremendous, the backrowers are rangey and have good ball skills, the backs fast and strong and Soward is their dynamo. They have the ammunition to do the job on the premiership this year. The Cowboys IMO do not. Full credit to them.
