IT'S been a pretty hectic couple of weeks recently. A friend's wedding in New Zealand provided me with the excuse to head over to the Shaky Isles and do a little touring, which is how I ended up watching both the deciding State of Origin and a bride-to-be show us her mammary glands in a backpackers bar in Auckland.
The Cowboys then had the bye before a couple of matches that would give us an indication of whether they were fair dinkum premiership contenders, or merely fated to provide a top team with a practise run in the first week of the finals.
The first of these games was probably the hardest: Melbourne Storm in Melbourne. Despite being without Billy Slater the Storm were favourites for this match, not least because the Cowboys had a dreadful 18-6 record against them. I won't bore you with the details as this match coincided with the aforementioned wedding and reception, but needless to say it was a very pleasant surprise at 3am to find the Cowboys finished 20-16 winners.
Onwards then to Monday Night Football against the Wests Tigers. Since qualifying for the finals for the first time ever with a win against the Tigers in 2004 the Cowboys have had another poor record against them with just two wins in their last 10 matches. This time I was back at work, checking scores while checking people in.
The first half was as entertaining as you'd expect two highly attacking teams to play. The Tigers at one point led 16-10, only for Brent Tate to cross just before half-time and level the scores. Soon after the break Anthony Mitchell scored to give the Cowboys the lead; a lead they held onto before adding a Matt Bowen field goal, Gavin Cooper try and Johnathan Thurston conversion for the eventual 29-16 scoreline.
So two wins in two matches against two clubs that traditionally held the wood over us. That's not to say we're guaranteed of keeping our top-four spot through to the finals - when your run home is Bulldogs (away), Manly (home), Warriors (h), Dragons (a), Knights (h) and Sharks (a), you take nothing for granted.
A couple of wins in the first of those two matches though...
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 20 (Linnett 2, Tate tries; Thurston 4/4 goals) defeated Melbourne Storm 16.
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 29 (Hall, Faifai Loa, Tate, Mitchell, Cooper tries; Thurston 4/5 goals; Bowen field goal) defeated Wests Tigers 16.
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