The fuse has been lit for another cracking Queensland derby with Cowboys forward Coen Hess saying his side would be looking to end Brisbane\u2019s finals charge.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys are currently clinging to eighth spot, with the 13th-placed Broncos still in with a mathematical chance to play finals and defend their title \u2013 but they need to win every game from here on in.<\/p>\n
Even without the added intrigue of the race to the finals, the two well-supported Queensland clubs have had a strong rivalry, with the 2015 grand final often highlighted as one of the best deciders ever.<\/p>\n
Cowboys coach Todd Payten lit the spark for another high-octane clash, telling reporters in the post-match press conference following his side\u2019s loss to fellow Queensland rivals the Dolphins, that \u201ceveryone hates the Broncos\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Shots fired! Payten’s cheeky dig at Broncos<\/p>\n
While he didn\u2019t repeat the \u2018h\u2019 word uttered by his coach, Hess said the rivalry was as strong as ever and each team enjoyed taking their opposition down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always is a huge game,\u201d Hess said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a disappointing loss (against the Dolphins), so it’ll be about us bouncing back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Broncos are in finals contention now as well, so they’ve got a bit of confidence and we’re fighting to stay in the top eight as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth teams have a lot to play for, so I’m looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need to win every game, so if we can end their season up there, that’d be outstanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ll have the whole of Townsville, North Queensland behind us, and that’ll be everyone’s objective\u2026 but it’s a game that everyone gets up for, no matter how both teams are going.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always traditionally goes down to the wire and it’s a cracking contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe beat them earlier on in the year, so I’m sure they’ll be reminded about that and all that good stuff, but you certainly don’t have to get yourself up for the game, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just love beating each other so much and they’re the same as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou certainly don’t need any extra motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Broncos come into the game full of confidence after knocking off ladder leaders Penrith, one positive for North Queensland\u2019s loss against the Dolphins was the successful return from injury of co-captain and halfback Tom Dearden.<\/p>\n
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Tom Dearden Try<\/p>\n
Missing since Round 10 with a syndesmosis injury, Dearden \u2013 nicknamed \u2018Mud\u2019 \u2013 was straight back into the action, scoring the first try of the game and setting up another early as the Cowboys got off to a promising start, before falling away.<\/p>\n
Against a fired-up Broncos looking to save their season, Dearden will need to be on song against his former club to help guide the Cowboys to a win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call it \u2018Mud magic\u2019, so when he does that little show and go, he’s waving the wand,\u201d Hess said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was nice to see early on, he got his try.<\/p>\n
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First take: Cowboys v Broncos<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I’m sure the lungs would have been burned in the stages, so the more footy he can get into the legs, the better it’ll be for us and you can definitely feel him out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s an amazing talker and directs us around the park really well and we love playing with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, Jake Clifford has been recalled to partner Dearden in the halves, with another boost seeing prop Tom Mikaele’s return after missing a week due to concussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fuse has been lit for another cracking Queensland derby with Cowboys forward Coen Hess saying his side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-538674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}