The Cowboys are sitting on the edge of the top eight, only needing two more wins to feature in the finals, but one NRL legend believes the embarrassing 70-point loss to the Roosters has ended any premiership aspirations for 2026.
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It was billed as a blockbuster top-eight clash, but instead only one of the teams showed up in the first half as the Roosters sent an ominous warning to the rest of the competition.
In what Fox League’s Andrew Voss called “the most stunning scoreline that we have seen in modern times”, the Roosters ran away 82-12 winners over the Cowboys in Townsville.
It was the third highest team score of all time and the most by any time since 1935, while the Roosters’ 48 first-half points were the equal-most in premiership history.
Five days after the Cowboys’ gutsy win over rivals Brisbane, North Queensland looked out of sorts from the opening whistle against the dangerous Chooks.
Storm and Roosters premiership winning half Cooper Cronk called the match for Fox League and speaking post-game, Cronk said he is happy to rule a line through the Cowboys this season.
“I don’t think they bounce back from this,” he said on Fox League’s NRL Debrief.
“I’m going to say that the five-day turnaround had a big part in this. They were lacking intensity and physicality from the word go and if you go look at it five days ago against the Brisbane Broncos, it was one of the better performances from the Cowboys all year long.
“So, I don’t think you can just say, ‘Oh, move on’, and I don’t think you can bring the the hard stick to them and say, ‘What are we doing here?’ but defensively they were poor. They were ordinary.
“The Cowboys were looking for someone else to do the hard work tonight, and they got caught out big time.”
The 70-point margin was North Queensland’s biggest defeat in history and the equal fourth-biggest in premiership history.
All up, the Roosters ran for 1918 run metres — their fourth most on record.
“They (Roosters) have just sent a cold sweat through the competition,” Michael Ennis declared on Fox League, while calling out the Cowboys for their “embarrassing”.
“EMBARRASSING” Cowboys suffer huge loss | 03:25
There was plenty for both teams to play for, with the Roosters still in the running for the minor premiership while North Queensland has a two-point buffer ahead of the ninth-placed Sea Eagles with a bye in hand.
But it was one-way traffic early and while there was a brief 20-minute in the second half where the Cowboys kept things competitive, the Roosters finished with a flurry to bring up 82 points.
Amid contract talks, halfback Sam Walker was prolific, posting a remarkable personal haul of 36 points (three tries, 12 goals).
“We were waiting for one of the heavyweights to flex their muscles and the Roosters just made a historic statement, led by their little halfback — the majestical Sam Walker has come back to Queensland and absolutely torn the Cowboys to shreds,” Ennis said.
“He’s been brilliant.”
“You could tell from the first set of six they were on,” added former Roosters premiership winner Luke Keary.
“I don’t think anyone expected this score and just the spine, led by Sammy Walker and Daly Cherry-Evans’ kicking game, this is unbelievable.”
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Robbo speaks following huge 70-point win | 03:14
The Cowboys were “completely dismantled” as Ennis put it, with the Roosters setting the tone early as Reece Robson split the defence and linked with fellow spine members Daly Cherry-Evans and James Tedesco in a moment that Ennis said had “alarm bells” ringing.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” the former premiership-winning hooker added.
“We spoke early in the season about the points they could pile on. But would the defence be good enough?
“They’ve tidied the defence up, but post-Origin we’ve been waiting. Look at this 20 from 22 sets they’ve been able to get through. They just haven’t given the Cowboys a sniff at all, but they have completely and utterly torn them to shreds everywhere.”
As for the Cowboys, Ennis said coach Payten would have been “absolutely filthy” with his side’s performance considering how much was at stake on Thursday night.
That proved to be the case, with the North Queensland coach labelling it the club’s “darkest day” in his press conference.
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“It’s embarrassing from a side that we spoke pre-game about potentially marching towards the final series and this close to the finals in eighth position with so much on the line and at home, to dish up that the opening half like — Todd Payten would be absolutely filthy,” Ennis said.
“As good as the Roosters as were, it’s one of the worst performances we’ve seen from a team in a half this year,” added Keary.
“To concede 48 in a game is disappointing. To concede 48 in a half is diabolical.”