Supporting North Queensland: Round 8

TODAY'S story is brought to you by the letters M, C & G, for that's where most North Queensland fans keep up-to-date with their team's progress.

That's a lie of course: I'm willing to wager more on me being the only Cowboys fan at the Melbourne-St Kilda game Saturday night than I would on the Demons being able to beat any team that wasn't formed in the last five years.

Like North Queensland, St Kilda tend to seriously frustrate their fans. None were more frustrated than the dreadlocked man that materialised in the seat in front of me during a bathroom break. He apparently expected an easy win against the winless Demons, repeatedly banging the seat in front of him; every time the umpires made a call against the Saints he seemed to take it more personally than had he found the umpire engaging in a menage a trois with his mother and wife.

Any thoughts on keeping fully up-to-date with the NRL score was blown away the first time we checked. Both the Cowboys and Rabbitohs are capable of racking – and conceding - some big scores in quick time; this time the Rabbitohs put their foot to the floor to take an early 20-0 lead. Not the greatest news in the world, although once again this was the game you'd expect some big scoring streaks from either side.

So it proved – the Cowboys scored the game's remaining points, eventually ending up four points short. Ashley Graham scored a double and James Segeyaro one, but unlike the Saints, the Cowboys couldn't come away with a win. If North Queensland are to advance in the finals - and the talent's definitely there - these are the games they need to win more often than not. While scoring 16 straight is something to applaud, letting in 20 in the first 20 minutes is all too typical.

Typical, and like my mate at the MCG, all too frustrating.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 16 (Graham 2, Segeyaro tries; Thurston 2/3 goals) lost to South Sydney Rabbitohs 20

Supporting North Queensland: Round 7

THERE is one simple rule when it comes to supporting North Queensland: expect the unexpected.

Have a team with two of the world's best attacking backs? Get held to 0 at home against last year's wooden spooners.

Finish wooden spooners with just seven wins for the season against your name? Include 46 and 40 point thrashing of the Dragons and now-defunct Northern Eagles in that seven.

Be known for being one of the worst-travelling teams in the competition? Win both of your away games while slumping to a 1-3 home record.

The round 7 match against the Sydney Roosters was another away game, albeit one that felt like home. The Roosters moved the game up to Darwin, which for a game against a Townsville-based side is similar to the Cowboys moving a home game against Canberra down to Hobart. Adding to the Roosters' problems was that the Cowboys arrived into Darwin on Tuesday to help promote the game in the city, where they only arrived for their "home" game on the Thursday. They even wore their alternate white jersey which allowed the Cowboys to wear their home strip and virtually home conditions.

A more gracious host you couldn't find, yet in the first half the Roosters went even further out of their way to make the Cowboys feel as home. Antonio Winterstein weaved through some poor defence to open the scoring, before repeating the dose soon afterwards. Ashley Graham got his almost obligatory try-a-game on the 16 minute mark before Kalifa Faifai Loa, in his first NRL game for the year, somehow got the ball down in the corner despite being tackled, airborne, and pretty much completely over the sideline. Watch these highlights around the 1:22 mark and try to keep your jaw shut. Cannot be done.

The first half's scoring finished with quite possibly my favourite Cowboys play: Thurston faces one way, then chips kicks the other for a flying Matty Bowen to run through, collect and score. The good guys lead 28-0 at half time - and even better, Manly are losing to the Gold Coast.

The second half started in typical Cowboys fashion: expect the unexpected. Although they led 28-0 after 40 minutes, the Roosters began to consider a comeback after two quick tries before two more were disallowed by the video ref. That three came from high kicks is a concern; to beat the likes of Melbourne you have to be able to defuse those and not rely on the opposition knocking on.

With 20 minutes to go the Cowboys woke up again, with young Jason Taumalalo proving twice that when 110kg of back-row muscle really wants to get the ball over the line, good luck stopping him. In between Taumalalo tries Ray Thompson pounced on a lost ball to return him back home over the Roosters line before Matty Bowen finished the match with a blistering run, try and conversion to help register 50 points for the first time in seven years.

Concede 40+ points at home? Run in 50 points of your own the very next game. Coincidentally, the last time they did that was in 2005 - the year we made the grand final.

As always with the Cowboys, expect the unexpected.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 50 (Winterstein 2, Bowen 2, Taumalalo 2, Graham, Faifai Loa, Thompson tries, Thurston 6/8, Bowen 1/1 goals) defeated Sydney Roosters 12

The Big Little Yellow Book

IT'S the book your true cricket aficionado can't go without - but it's not that easy to read cover-to-cover.

It gives the details of every Test, One-Day (ODI) and Twenty20 international match played in the past 12 months - but always with England's home matches first.

It has the size and heft of that bible you inevitably find on your bedside table in cheaper motels around the world - and the small font size that inevitably tires your eyes.

Finally most of the truly interesting stuff is available online for free - yet it's just not the same as holding one of these bad boys in your hand in feverish anticipation of what's inside.

It, ladies and gentlemen, is the Wisden Cricketers Almanack,

That this big little yellow book resembles a motel bible is kind of apt given its status as cricket's holy text. Just about everything you could possibly want from the previous 12 months is contained inside, including details of every international tour, every English county match with full scorecard and match report, and obituaries of those who played the game to a high level. The details these obituaries go into still astounds me: I have open in front of me the 2001 Almanack (more on that later) which not only eulogises true greats like Colin Cowdrey and Lala Armanath, but also contains this entry (italics mine):

CLARKE, BERNARD HENRY, who died on October 23, 2000, aged 86, was the Northamptonshire scorer from 1982 to 1989.


Then there's the essays. Not only do five top performers from the previous year's English season get to have five of the world's best cricket writers say rather nice things about them, but other writers from around the world are called upon to comment of the big issues of the day. The 2001 version includes a hard-hitting piece from Mihir Bose about the match-fixing scandal that finished Hansie Cronje's career; Mike Atherton wrote eloquently about the troubles in facing the retired Curtly Ambrose; while Frank Keating brought this young Australian into the world of post-war English cricket with his farewell to Cowdrey and Brian Statham.
I can't be sure, but one could imagine modern writers doing laps around the loungeroom if called upon to write for the Almanack in much the same way cricketers would do on receiving news of selection for their debut test.


SO how does one get into a Wisden? As mentioned, they're big little yellow books; hardly the kind of thing that jumps out at you in the bookstore compared to, say, Matthew Hayden's cookbook. For some it's access to one in the family home; others a present from an enlightened friend/relative.

For me? The internet.

Let me rewind a little bit. While Cricinfo has been the cricket tragic's website of choice for news and scorecards since the 1990s, in the early 2000s wisden.com was starting to offer some very interesting analysis - plus access to their essays and match reports going way back to its very first edition in 1864. This didn't come free: to access the really good stuff you had to pay a subscription fee. Being a broke uni student would generally kybosh that idea, although at some point I must have felt rich enough to submit the credit card details. Not that many people did this though: English cricketer Paul Collingwood saw his wisden.com summary for the first time when I interviewed him for the Prime Minister's XI match against England in the 2002/03 season.
Perhaps because not many took the plunge and signed up, those that did were rewarded with a copy of the 2001 Almanack. This may have been why I signed up in the first place; at any rate I was still surprised to see  a package from England on the doorstep.

I was hooked. Soon after I managed to get hold of three more Almanacks courtesy of eBay before a travel addiction overtook my cricket and reading addictions, siphoning off pretty much any money I made. They're not cheap either, with the 2011 version selling for a mere $120 on one Australian online bookstore.
But strolling through a massive second-hand book sale in Brisbane, I found a 1992 edition for just $5. It now sits with the other four, waiting for some more friends.

Come to think of it, did I end up reading that through? Yes? Maybe? Not sure... perhaps I'd better start again.

Despite its quirks, the Wisden Cricketers Almanack really is the book us true cricket aficionados can't go without.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have have a book to read...

Supporting North Queensland: Round 6

BACK in 2006 the Cowboys managed to do something unusual: they beat Melbourne.

Come to think of it, they didn't just beat them - they flogged Melbourne 40-8 in what was one of the Storm's four losses for the season. The Cowboys were truly riding high at the time, backing up from the 2005 grand final loss to destroy Brisbane 36-4 in Brisbane and topping the table until round 10.

It was too good to last.

The teams met again in round 10, with Melbourne winning 18-6 to kickstart two losing streaks: the Cowboys went 6 matches without a win against any team; while it wouldn't be until last season that North Queensland finished on top of Melbourne in more than just geography with a 34-6 win.

Both teams were in stereotypical form in the lead-up to this clash: the Storm clinically disposing of all around them on their way to a 5-0 record; the Cowboys with their rollercoaster LWWLW record, although with a strong defensive effort against Canberra in Canberra the week before.

The game started well for the good guys. New 200-gamer Aaron Payne put in a nice little grubber kick for Matt Bowen to open the scoring, only for Melbourne to quickly reply before putting their foot down. I was keeping up to date on Twitter and the NRL website; every time I tried to listen online Melbourne managed to score another. Likewise, the radio was off when Gavin Cooper scored to keep the half-time score to 12-16.

The less said about the second half the better. Melbourne ran in five tries to one as the Cowboys imploded in a similar way to how they did in the semi-final against Manly last year. While Melbourne are deservedly one of the competition front-runners, the Cowboys need to put together a stronger 80-minute performance if they're any chance of seriously challenging for the premiership.

And hopefully not take another eight games to beat Melbourne again.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 18 (Bowen, Cooper, Tamou tries; Thurston 3/3 goals) lost to Melbourne Storm 42

Supporting North Queensland: Round 5

North Queensland vs Canberra matches for me are like comparing your your ex with your current flame. Every time they come together you can't help but compare the two, admiring one for her shiny new halfback or compare prop forwards.
Last night was going to be the chance to compare the pair's five-eighths - see how the remodelled Jonathan Thurston would look compared to a rebuilt Terry Campese on a couple of clubs that could scrub up very nicely by the end of the season.
The last time the two had stood side-by-side Canberra had rather unfortunately twisted her ankle rather badly, losing Josh Dugan and Campese in the first half. What had seemed like a very attractive first-half lead was suddenly shot to pieces when the Cowboys realised they were being outshone.
This time though it couldn't happen again. Could it? We can compare the two easily?

Unfortunately not.

The Raiders managed to twist the other ankle this time, losing forwards Brett White to a suspected torn ACL in his foot while Joel Thompson literally twisted his ankle in another horror game against the Cowboys.

With only two on the bench the Raiders were always up against it; with Thurston outshining his Raider rival they had virtually no chance. Thurston didn't do anything fancy; just great balls to put try-hounds Ashley Graham and Brent Tate into enough space.

Keeping up-to-date via Twitter and the NRL website there were some anxious moments. The Raiders had a try disallowed at the end of the first half, leaving the Cowboys with a 12-0 lead; later a Raiders' try through Sam Mataora was followed by another trip to the video ref. Had that been allowed the Raiders were back to 12-22 with 5 to go; anyone watching the Rabbitohs-Tigers match the day before would know not cross another miracle result out.

It didn't happen this time. The Cowboys ran out deserved 22-6 winners and moved up to fourth on the ladder - and once again it wasn't fair to compare the ex with the current.

If Thurston keeps that kind of form up though, the current squeeze could well scrub up very nicely indeed.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 22 (Graham 2, Tate, Thompson tries, Thurston 3/4 goals) Canberra Raiders 6