‘It’s still there’: Gould’s bold Cowboys claim in two-horse premiership race
Rugby league supremo Phil Gould has made a bold prediction after the Cowboys’ impressive 45-20 Round 14 win over the Storm.
He believes Todd Payten’s men are the only team outside the Panthers who have the ability to “win the comp”.
As it stands, North Queensland sit in 14th position on the ladder and have won six of their 14 appearances, sitting fourth last in points differential.
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The Cowboys have also conceded the most points of any team, leaking 351 which sits 16 more than the Titans in second last.
But still, Gould believes the Cowboys have what it takes to win the premiership in 2023 and topple the Panthers, who he considers the favourites to lift the trophy.
“The Cowboys can win the comp, but a lot of things have to go right between now and the end of the year for them,” Gould said on WWOS.
“I don’t see any other teams beating the Panthers at the back-end of the year.
“They’ve got some good players to come back ... Taumalolo hasn’t been playing, Nanai has just come back into the side.
“I think that whatever it was (the reason for a slow start), last year’s carry over, maybe they didn’t have the off season, the World Cup.
“Whatever it is, but you can’t do what they did the other night and not have tremendous ability.
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“To put 45 points on the Storm says to me that it’s still there if they can just find it on a consistent basis.”
Gould also pointed to how tight the competition is in 2023, with only six points separating third to 15th place.
The Cowboys have are also yet to have a bye and have three weeks off in the final 13 rounds of the competition.
“When you look at the competition table, it is so condensed in that middle and later ten teams. You only need to win four or five in a row,” Gould explained.
“Look at the Raiders, they lost by 40 points to Penrith, suddenly win eight of their next nine and they are flying.
“I’m expecting that they (Cowboys) are going to be there at the back-end of the year.”