Toyota Cup Preview - Cowboys v Raiders

[Raidercast]

NYC preview: Cowboys v Raiders

The Sheriff's match preview:
Toyota Cup Cowboys v Canberra Raiders
Round 16, 2012 Toyota Cup



TEAMS

Toyota Cup Cowboys: 1. Zac Santo 2. Rogan Dean 3. Hayden Crowley 4. Javid Bowen 5. Brady Williams 6. Luke Abdul-Rahman 7. Sam Foster 8. Nick Dorante 9. Alex Elisala 10. John Puna 11. Patrick Kaufusi 12. Jack Svendsen 13. Corey Jensen. Interchange: 14. Nathan Norford 15. Jack Rycen 16. Daniel Beasley 17. Francis Veukiso. Coach: Todd Wilson.

Canberra Raiders: 1. Mitchell Cronin 2. Jonathon Reuben 3. Matthew Allwood 4. Jeremy Hawkins 5. Malcom Congoo 6. Jack Ahearn 7. Mitchell Cornish 8. Shannon Boyd 9. Ben Picker 10. Jeff Lynch 11. Michael Chee Kam 12. Joe Bradley 13. Hayden Crockett . Interchange: 14. Peter Irwin 15. Dennis Tomarchio 16. Jeremy Hawkins 17. Uiti Baker. Coach: Andrew Dunemann.

HEAD-TO-HEADS
Played: 8 – Cowboys 2, Raiders 6
Head-to-head at Dairy Farmers Stadium: Cowboys 1, Raiders 2
Last game: Raiders 42 d Cowboys 18 at Canberra Stadium (round 5, 2012)
Biggest head-to-head wins: Cowboys 42 d Raiders 12 (Dairy Farmers Stadium, round 6, 2011); Raiders 42 d Cowboys 18 (Canberra Stadium – Rd 5, 2012)

MATCH DETAILS

Date: 3.15pm, Saturday 23 June 2012
Venue: Dairy Farmers Stadium
Updates: www.twitter.com/nthqldcowboys
Broadcast: Fox Sports 2 (live)
Referee: Chris Anderson
Touch judges: Christ Nitso, Taylor Worth
Main game: 5.30pm

THE SHERIFF SAYS...

The last time the Cowboys met the Raiders, our North Queensland boys were bang in the middle of a long losing streak.

Those days are well in the distance for Todd Wilson’s developing side, who have now won three in a row, and lost just one of their last six, to move away from the foot of the Toyota Cup ladder.

The Cowboys have climbed to 13th place but remain seven points adrift of the top eight, which means they must keep on winning to have any chance of playing finals football in 2012.

The next couple of weeks could be telling and they definitely won’t be easy.

The Raiders sit in second place on the ladder and have already handed out a 42-18 defeat to North Queensland in their round five meeting in Canberra.

Winger Edrick Lee, now part of Canberra’s NRL squad, was particularly damaging that afternoon.

Next in line in Auckland on Sunday week are the fourth-placed NZ Warriors, the reigning premiers and still the bookmakers’ favourites despite not being as dominant as they have been in the past two seasons.

A couple of months ago you wouldn’t have given the Cowboys much of a chance in either game, but this is a much different squad, particularly defensively.

In last Friday night’s come-from-behind win against Brisbane, North Queensland missed just 19 tackles – the type of figure that puts smiles on the faces of the coaching staff.

Teams continue to target halfback Sam Foster, but he's shown he’s up to it and he now leads the one-on-one tackles statistic in the under-20s competition.

Against the Broncos, Foster made 33 tackles and was credited with just three misses, while hooker Alex Elisala (33 tackles, 1 miss) and second-rower Chris Grevsmuhl (32 tackles, 0 misses) were even more impressive defensively.

Grevsmuhl will be absent this week as he continues his rugby league development as a member of the Mackay Cutters in the Intrust Super Cup, while Tennyson Elliott has succumbed to an ankle injury.

Jack Rycen will make his under-20s debut and it’s welcome back to Daniel Beasley, who’ll be a man on a mission over the remainder of 2012 after missing out on the first 15 rounds following a serious ankle injury and subsequent hamstring problems.

Remember, if you can’t get to Dairy Farmers to see it live, the game will be on Fox Sports.

Source: Cowboys