Mission possible for Cowboys
ANTONY STEWART
March 24th, 2010
PUTTING a stop to Penrith's Shane Elford is one thing, but the Cowboys are aware doing the same to the Dragons' fleet-footed tryscoring machine Brett Morris is another altogether.
North Queensland's maligned right-side defence stood up to its critics on the weekend, holding strong against a Frank Pritchard-led onslaught as the
Cowboys defeated Penrith 28-20.
It was a needed and much worked on turnaround after the right occasionally resembled swiss cheese in their first-round loss to the Brisbane Broncos.
But while thrilled with the response of centre Ashley Graham and winger John Williams in particular on the weekend, coach Neil Henry warned that one game did not make a season.
The pair on Friday night have the unenviable task of trying to close down St George Illawarra speedster Morris, who is stamping himself as one of the NRL's best finishers.
He has scored nine tries in his past five games, including a hat-trick last start, while the 23-year-old winger bagged five four-pointers against the Cowboys in two games last season.
''He's been dangerous, they have really got those cut-out passes on that side of the field going,'' Henry said.
''He plays with great width and had (Matt) Prior running out there and (Ben) Creagh's damaging on that side of the field so they might shift him that way.
''We've already looked at some vision of that and we'll have to be a fair bit better defensively to keep them out.''
While New Zealand international wrecking ball Pritchard stalked the right for Penrith, Henry said he did not think the Panthers threw as much attack as what they can expect from the in-form Dragons at WIN Stadium.
''You're only as good as your last game ... I'm sure St George are going to test us there,'' he said.
''They've been shifting that way regardless for the last two games, so it's not like they have to changed anything up to find our right edge.
''Our right edge just need to be up to the task and I thought they did a tremendous job against Penrith, but St George will play a bit differently, come with a bit more speed and they shift a bit longer.
''It will be a bit like the Broncos coming down that way, we need to be better against them than we were, for sure.''
However, the former Queensland Origin assistant added it would be unfair to place sole responsibility of shutting down the Dragons' left-side attack on Graham and Williams.
''The ownership for some of the problems is on the inside of the line, so it's how we adjust mid-field that effects how many numbers they defend,'' Henry said.
''If you look at the tape of the game against Broncos, John Williams and Ash Graham, sometimes had four-on-two, John Williams had three-on-one on two occasions.
''So the inside of the line need to better at what they do and number up to put pressure on them before they put the ball out wide we've looked at that from a team perspective to try and rectify those problems.''
The Cowboys yesterday picked the same 17-man squad that defeated the Panthers, with starting and bench positions the only areas in question, and Henry said there were no major injury concerns.
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/03/24/124915_cowboys.html
Neil Henry seems to think that our defensive weakness on the right isn't solely the fault of Graham and John Williams, and after watching a replay of the Broncos game I'm inclined to agree.
Good to see he's working on this. If we can shut down Morris and Creagh, the Dragons have very few other attacking weapons.
