Reuben Cotter and Sam Walker Could Be Teammates in State of Origin
Reuben Cotter and Sam Walker might soon find themselves as teammates in the Queensland State of Origin squad, just a few days from now. This potential partnership came into focus during a recent match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Sydney Roosters, which the Cowboys won 18-12.
During the game, Cotter was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul against Walker. The Roosters’ halfback saw an opportunity and chased it when his team was trailing the Cowboys in the 55th minute at Suncorp Stadium.
The incident occurred after Walker, who is a strong contender for the State of Origin team, managed to outmaneuver Cowboys player Reed Mahoney with some quick footwork deep in their territory. He then attempted to regather the ball and score under the posts. However, Cotter tackled him illegally, even though he was hindered by a heavily padded upright.
Although Cotter prevented Walker from scoring a try, he had to spend 10 minutes on the sideline. Despite this, the Roosters managed to score a four-pointer through Hugo Savala in the following set. The Cowboys defended strongly while Cotter was in the sin bin and continued to do so once he returned to the field, ultimately securing a victory in the Magic Round.
Cowboys coach Todd Payten expressed his disbelief at the decision to send Cotter to the sin bin. “I think if you slow it down like they do it is very hard to come up with the right call,” Payten said in his post-match press conference. “I just asked them to watch that at normal speed because if you slow it down like they did you are going to find something wrong with it.”
He added that such decisions can significantly impact whether a team makes the finals or not, and even affect contract renewals. “They have a huge impact on the game,” Payten said. “Off the back of that work and effort we put in, we are going to have to look at how we train this week and manipulate what we do, but that’s another by-product of those type of calls.”
Dramatic Moments in the First Half
The first half of the game was filled with drama. Fetalaiga Pauga was poleaxed mid-air, and Matt Lodge was sent to the sin bin. The 40,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium gasped when Pauga was hit by Cowboys centre Tom Chester in the eighth minute. The Cowboys outside back crashed into Pauga’s legs as he chased a kick, and for a fleeting moment, it appeared the Roosters winger might land head-first.
However, Pauga did not land head-first but left the field for a head injury assessment, which he passed. Shortly after, Roosters winger Cody Ramsey scored the first try of the game. Then, Matt Lodge collected Lindsay Collins high in the first tackle after the kick-off that followed.
It seemed as though Lodge first made contact with Collins’ shoulder before his arm crept up and smacked the Roosters enforcer in the jaw. Collins, who is expected to be named in Billy Slater’s Queensland team for State of Origin I on Monday, left the field but returned.
Roosters winger Daniel Tupou limped off with a calf injury in only the sixth minute and did not return. Roosters coach Trent Robinson expressed disappointment at his team’s inability to capitalize on having an extra man on the field for 20 minutes of the game. “It was really disappointing to see us lose the style of play that we’ve been working really hard on and not being able to pull apart a team that gave us two sin-bins and multiple opportunities,” Robinson said in his post-game press conference.
Despite the absence of Tom Dearden (syndesmosis) and Jason Taumalolo, who was rested, the Cowboys secured a win.
