North Queensland coach Neil Henry says the next two weeks are “critical” if the Cowboys are to set up a third straight NRL finals appearance.
The Cowboys moved to within two points of the league’s top-eight on Sunday with their 20-point win over Cronulla, which pushed them up to 13th place on a congested table.
But with an away game to Canberra on Sunday followed by a clash game against Manly without their State of Origin quartet ahead of their next bye, Henry said it was time to turn their two straight wins into a streak.
“It’s that sort of competition isn’t it?” Henry said.
“It’s waiting for a few sides to get on a run and win a few in a row and we’ve put ourselves in a position to do that.”
The North Queensland side play seven of their last 10 matches at home and co-captain Johnathan Thurston said it was important they used the confidence boost that comes from beating a team sitting inside the eight.
“I think the bye (last week) came at a good time for us, the boys were fresh coming into this game (against Cronulla) and that’s what we need to do,” Thurston said.
“We’ve got a string of home games coming up and we need to build on this momentum and hopefully string a few together and climb up the ladder.”
In the Cowboys favour, Henry looks to have found a solution to one of his early season puzzles, seeming to have filled the gap left at hooker by the retired Aaron Payne and now Penrith Panthers player James Segeyaro.
Henry praised Ray Thompson’s 80 minutes at rake while halfback Robert Lui was also returning to his best form in parts.
The coach was also encouraged by the return of prop James Tamou from a two-match suspension for a drink driving charge, with the Blues and Test frontrower making 163 metres from 18 runs against the Sharks.
“He found the pace, he was blowing a bit at the start but once he had a bit of a rest and came back out there he had some good metres and will be better for the run,” Henry said.
Henry was buoyed by his team’s defensive game, with the committed effort forcing the Sharks into mistakes and restricting them to just one try.
“In the end we kicked away to a comfortable win and our for-and-against is important to us,” Henry said.
“To be able to keep them to four points is important to us and to not let them get a late try we did well on our line.”
