It was a night for record breaking for the Cowboys, putting on a massive redemption performance against the Tigers.
Result
North Queensland Cowboys 74
Tries: Tom Dearden (14); Semi Valemei (17, 43); Luciano Leilua (19); Scott Drinkwater (23, 29); Murray Taulagi (37, 53, 66); Valentine Holmes (39, 49); Jeremiah Nanai (68); Jordan McLean (79)
Goals: Valentine Holmes (16, 18, 21, 25, 30, 38, 40, 51, 67, 70, 80)
Wests Tigers 0
Tries: nil
Goals: nil
Report
The Cowboys hosted the Tigers at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Saturday evening – and what a night it would be for the home team.
They won in emphatic fashion by 74-0, erasing memories of their 66-18 defeat at the hands of the Tigers at Leichhardt on May 20.
The beginning of the opening half looked like it promised a strong first half from both teams. It was very much an end-to-end match with both the Cowboys and the Tigers being given opportunities to score points, but not quite making it.
Tom Dearden scored the first of seven first half tries as the Cowboys went into the sheds ahead 42-0.
There was no respite for the Tigers in the second half as their lack of enthusiasm and poor defence saw the home side extend their lead by 32 points and along the way breaking club records.
Individually, Valentine Holmes broke Cowboys’ great Jonathan Thurston for the most points scored in a game with 30.
The Cowboys recorded their highest score in the history of the club and the winning margin was the biggest in the NRL era and third largest in the history of NRL/NSWRL competitions behind the St George Dragons (85 point win Vs Canterbury in 1935) and Eastern Suburbs (80 point win Vs Canterbury in 1935).
After creating history of their own back in May, the Tigers slumped to their biggest loss which eclipsed the 66-point loss to the Roosters last August. They also conceded the most points since the joint venture was formed.
The Cowboys now move into nineth place with 9 wins from 17 matches with a positive points differential of 38.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Tom Dearden (Cowboys)
2 – Scott Drinkwater (Cowboys)
1 – Griffin Neame (Cowboys)
