2015's NRL Favourites aka The Upper Echelon; The Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys are the new kid on the block, even though it feels like they've been a member of the Upper Echelon for a while now. Having Jonathan Thurston lead your team does that and Thurston has been able to keep the Cowboys competitive in the top half of the NRL, but he hasn't been able to put the Cowboys on his back and take them to the promised land of NRL glory.
There have been many obstacles in the way of the Cowboys, headlined by a run of terrible luck at the hands of our best friends - the refs. However, over the past few years they've started to assemble a squad that is simply impossible to ignore, they have a forward pack who on their day can dismantle the toughest pack's in the NRL and a back line that is simply stacked.
On the surface, loosing Tariq Sims is a huge blow as he epitomised the great work done by the Cowboys in identifying younger player with bright futures. But the recruitment cycle of letting very good players go thanks to the salary cap and then recruiting a fresh crop of talented players has been in full swing up in Townsville. The players recruited this season show that the Cowboys will be in good hands this season and we're going to see a few guys stand up and show their worth.
Justin O'Neil has joined the Cowboys from the Storm, Ben Hannant will be keen to put his Broncos days behind him and find some form again while young forwards Kelepi Tanginoa (Eels) and John Asiata (Roosters) have plenty of promise.
We've celebrated the forward pack for the Cowboys for a while now thanks to their front row of James Tamou and Matt Scott but this all took a dip last year as Tamou wasn't quite at his best for whatever the reason. These two will once again make playing the Cowboys a tough ask, but they've also lost Ashton Sims who picked up plenty of slack last season.
Scott Bolton, Jason Taumalolo and Glenn Hall will ease the load in the middle of the field as they can all play their 'middle forward' roles. Depending on the form of Hannant, we could see a young prop get a chance to come off the bench for the Cows which will give us an exciting battle to try get that spot in the 17.
Gavin Cooper returned, rather shockingly from injury last season and I love the work of Cooper on the left edge. His partnership with Thurston gives the Cowboys a potent attacking weapon as Cooper's hole-running ability is top shelf and obviously when you've got Thurston dishing out pristine passes it makes for a lethal combo.
The Cowboys forward pack will beat you up, but with Taumalolo especially, able to run like a fullback they can throw a variety of plays and schemes the way of their opponent. Ethan Lowe impressed last season and if he can continue to make the other edge his home then the Cowboys will be well balance. I expect someone like Asiata or Tanginoa feature heavily this season as well. The Cowboys will have power through the middle and rangy hole-runners on each edge, not easy to defend.
For some reason the Cowboys love to stack their dummy half ranks and this season is no different as they have Rory Kostjasyn, Ray Thompson, Cameron King and former Brisbane rake Jake Granville. Why they feel the need to have so many NRL level 9's is beyond me but having the combination of Kostjasyn and Thompson last season gave them some toughness and then some spice when Thompson came on. You've got to have depth so if injury or bad form strikes, they'll be well prepared while we could also see Kostjasyn shift to a tackle machine/lock role.
Jonathan Thurston is what he is, it's not about him, it's about all those around him and we still have yet to see someone step up and partner Thurston exceptionally well. If the Cowboys can do this, they'll be very hard to beat and having Robert Lui, Michael Morgan, Lachlan Coote and Thompson all in the mix here, they'll be able to pick whoever does the best job.
The key is the fullback spot as Morgan and Coote are competing for that spot, which means that whoever doesn't get the fullback jersey will be gunning for the halves. I still like Lui partnering Thurston, but any of these guys can do this job and the quicker they can establish something, the more dangerous they'll be.
Whether you have Lui, Morgan or Coote beside Thurston you still have one of the best low key back lines in the NRL. My starting crew of outside backs would be Justin O'Neil, Tautau Moga, Kane Linnett and Antonio Winterstein which is rough on Mathew Wright who was awesome for the Cowboys last season before he rather unfortunately was caught up in the ASADA drama.
All the outside backs for the Cowboys are big, quick, strong and are great finishers which makes them a horrible match up to play against. You can't ease up on either side of the field, especially if Thurston is given free reign and is able to work his magic on both sides of the field. There's no defensive issues here as well, trying to beat Linnett or Moga won't be an easy task.
The Cowboys once again, despite loosing a few guys, still have a group of players around Thurston who can not only do their job but be damaging themselves. It's hard to pin-point a weakness as they hold their own in the forwards, have Thurston in the halves and have outside backs who are equal parts quality and versatility. For me, this is a team that can dominate the NRL but we've just got to see early on this season how they're going to form their spine.
If they can establish a spine and put some consistent performances on the board, then I'm not sure there are many teams who can stop the Cowboys.