It’s pride on the line as the North Queensland Cowboys take on the Newcastle Knights at 1300SMILES Stadium on Friday night
TEAM FORM GUIDE
COWBOYS
The Cowboys are coming off a home loss to the Dragons a week ago, and are now in a three-way tie with the Eels and Bulldogs at the bottom of the ladder. Their attack has struggled all year and last week was no different. They should still have plenty of motivation to give Johnathan Thurston a proper send off.
KNIGHTS
The Knights come into this match on the back of two straight victories thanks largely to the return of halfback Mitchell Pearce. The were impressive in a comeback win over the Titans last week and with Kalyn Ponga returning to the side they would fancy themselves against the Cowboys. They’re out of the finals race but they will still be looking to finish the season strong and build towards next season.
SQUAD NEWS
COWBOYS
The Cowboys are unchanged from last week’s loss to the Dragons, although Matt Scott and Jordan McLean are both a chance to return from injury
KNIGHTS
Kalyn Ponga is back at fullback, pushing Nick Meaney to the reserves, and Cory Denniss is dropped for the returning Sione Mata’utia at centre.
PREVIEW
It’s the first meeting between the sides in 2018, and both sides won’t be featuring in the finals this year, but it should still be a intriguing match-up. The Cowboys finally get to see up close what they let go as Kalyn Ponga returns to face his old side. Ponga has been a star this season and will be for years to come and no doubt he will want to show the Cowboys what they lost.
The Cowboys will desperately want to avoid the wooden spoon in Thurston’s last season. It hasn’t been the fairytale ending that Thurston would have hoped for but there’s still time to finish his career on a high. His successor, Jake Clifford, gets another crack this week and should be more settled after a nervous debut last week.
If Matt Scott and Jordan McLean are able to return to the side, the Cowboys should be able to dominate the battle in the middle of the field. If they aren’t fit, a lot of responsibility rests on the shoulders of Jason Taumalolo. If they can get some go-forward, it should create plenty of scoring opportunities against a Knights side that can still leak a lot of points.
Key Battle
There’s a few important match-ups across the field, but the one to watch will be between Thurston and Mitchell Pearce. They’ve featured in plenty of battles over the years at both club level and in State of Origin.
Thurston has had the wood over Pearce throughout history but the Knights halfback has been very impressive this season, and the Knights’ struggles without him showed just how important he is to their side. Whoever has the greatest impact on this game will go a long way to deciding the outcome of this match.
KEY STAT
The Cowboys have struggled at home in recent times, losing their last five matches at 1300SMILES Stadium.
SQUADS
North Queensland Cowboys:ย 1 Te Maire Martin, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Enari Tuala, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Justin O’Neill, 6 Jake Clifford, 7 Johnathan Thurston, 8 John Asiata, 9 Jake Granville, 10 Scott Bolton, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Coen Hess, 13 Jason Taumalolo
Interchange:ย 14 Ben Hampton, 15 Shaun Fensom, 16 Mitchell Dunn, 17 Corey Jensen
Reserves:ย 18 Matthew Scott, 19 Ethan Lowe, 20 Francis Molo, 21 Jordan McLean
Newcastle Knights:ย 1 Kalyn Ponga, 2 Ken Sio, 3 Sione Mata’utia, 4 Nathan Ross, 5 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 6 Connor Watson, 7 Mitchell Pearce, 8 Jacob Lillyman, 9 Danny Levi, 10 Daniel Saifiti, 11 Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 12 Mitchell Barnett, 13 Aidan Guerra
Interchange:ย 14 Jamie Buhrer, 15 Chris Heighington, 16 Josh King, 17 Herman Ese’ese
Reserves:ย 18 Nick Meaney, 19 Cory Denniss, 20 Jack Cogger, 21 JJ Felise
THE IMPORTANT DETAILS
Date: Friday 27 July
Venue: 1300SMILES Stadium
Kick-off: 6:00pm
WHO WILL WIN?
The Cowboys are at home and have lots of pride on the line, but the Knights are full of confidence and the return of Ponga is massive. Him and Pearce back together should be the difference in this one.
Knights by 6
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https://nothingbutleague.com/2018/07/25/nrl-predictions-round-20/
