the BOYS are back!
Forward pack fires for Cowboys
JOSH ALSTON
07Apr08
FORWARD thinking laid the platform for the Cowboys breakthrough win against Parramatta on Saturday night.
Carl Webb was inspirational in the forwards with a damaging 164m from 15 runs and was assisted by equally strong performances from Ray Cashmere (157m), Aaron Payne (108m) and Shane Tronc (112m).
Before that game Cashmere was the only forward to crack the 100m mark with 113 against the Gold Coast in round one.
New South Wales and Australian representative Luke O'Donnell was also back to close to his best form with 89m and 22 tackles.
And he said that Webb was the spark that ignited the Cowboys forwards into dominating the Eels pack.
"Webby was due to have a good game and he played well, he was pumped up as we all were," O'Donnell said.
"He answered a few critics.
"It always helps when our big guys are going forward, winning the rucks and letting our little men do what they do best.
"We had them on the back foot and we were able to score points when we had good field position."
Skipper Johnathan Thurston was also glowing in his praise for Webb.
"I think Webby, his first 20 minutes was pretty inspirational, he certainly led from the front," he said.
"All the boys got up off the back of that and that's what we need from him.
"Certainly it's a complete turnaround on his performance from the last couple of weeks."
While ball security has been an issue in recent weeks for the Cowboys there were no such problems on Saturday night as they lifted their completion rate to 80 per cent.
And their 43 missed tackles against the Broncos last week became a distant memory as they denied the Eels again and again.
"I suppose we're breaking a lot of our rules in defence and that was hurting us," O'Donnell said.
"Execution-wise we dropped a lot of balls and not sustaining pressure takes a lot of petrol out of the tank at the back end of games and that hurts you."
While the win has eased pressure on the Cowboys, O'Donnell said the players had to respond positively to once again become premiership contenders.
"It's definitely been getting very frustrating over the past few weeks, the effort's definitely been there and we've worked hard but the execution hasn't been there and tonight it was good to turn it around," he said.
"Confidence is never high when you lose three on the trot, especially at the start of the season.
"It's definitely turning a corner, we've broken a three-match losing streak (but) we're not getting too far ahead of ourselves, we'll go back to the drawing board so to speak on Monday and work on the game against the Dragons."
