{"id":833463,"date":"2026-07-30T13:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833463\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:09:22","slug":"nrl-2026-north-queensland-cowboys-embarrassed-by-sydney-roosters-halftime-record-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833463\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: North Queensland Cowboys embarrassed by Sydney Roosters, halftime record, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was billed as a blockbuster top-eight clash, but instead only one of the teams showed up in the first half as the Sydney Roosters sent an ominous warning to the rest of the competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

In what Fox League\u2019s Andrew Voss called \u201cthe most stunning scoreline that we have seen in modern times\u201d, the Roosters ran away 82-12 winners over the Cowboys in North Queensland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was the third highest team score of all time and the most by any time since 1935, while the Roosters\u2019 48 first-half points were the equal-most in premiership history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have just sent a cold sweat through the competition,\u201d Michael Ennis declared on Fox League, while calling out the Cowboys for their \u201cembarrassing\u201d.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

The 70-point margin was North Queensland\u2019s biggest defeat in history and the equal fourth-biggest in premiership history.<\/p>\n

All up, the Roosters ran for 1918 run metres \u2014 their fourth most on record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were waiting for one of the heavyweights to flex their muscles and the Roosters just made a historic statement, led by their little halfback \u2014 the majestical Sam Walker has come back to Queensland and absolutely torn the Cowboys to shreds,\u201d Ennis said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could tell from the first set of six they were on,\u201d added former Roosters premiership winner Luke Keary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone expected this score and just the spine, led by Sammy Walker and Daly Cherry-Evans\u2019 kicking game, this is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Walkers contract price keeps going up | 00:26<\/p>\n

The Cowboys were \u201ccompletely dismantled\u201d 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 \u201calarm bells\u201d ringing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what we\u2019ve been waiting for,\u201d the former premiership-winning hooker added. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe spoke early in the season about the points they could pile on. But would the defence be good enough? <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve tidied the defence up, but post-Origin we\u2019ve been waiting. Look at this 20 from 22 sets they\u2019ve been able to get through. They just haven\u2019t given the Cowboys a sniff at all, but they have completely and utterly torn them to shreds everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the Cowboys, Ennis said coach Payten would have been \u201cabsolutely filthy\u201d with his side\u2019s performance considering how much was at stake on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

That proved to be the case, with the North Queensland coach labelling it the club\u2019s \u201cdarkest day\u201d in his press conference.<\/p>\n

Drinkwater near disaster error | 00:22<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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 \u2014 Todd Payten would be absolutely filthy,\u201d Ennis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs good as the Roosters as were, it\u2019s one of the worst performances we\u2019ve seen from a team in a half this year,\u201d added Keary.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo concede 48 in a game is disappointing. To concede 48 in a half is diabolical.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was billed as a blockbuster top-eight clash, but instead only one of the teams showed up in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-833463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}