Rookie Toyota Cowboys head coach Paul Green has given a positive report on his team’s first pre-season hitout of 2014 – a 32-8 defeat of Brisbane at Redcliffe on Saturday night.
North Queensland outscored the Broncos six tries to two with Green saying what he saw from his team was “mostly good”.
“I think things are coming together pretty nicely for us,” Green said.
Here's more on what the coach had to say post-match...
The performance of forwards Tariq Sims and Jason Taumalolo:
“We’ve got plenty of punch on the edges with those two. Ethan Lowe did a good job when he went on there as well and I thought our big guys through the middle rolled us forward.
“I think for a guy like Jason he just needs to learn how to be consistent.
“People tend to forget he’s only 20 years old. This is his first year out of under-20s and everyone probably takes that for granted and expects a lot more from him.
“We all know how good he can be but he just needs to learn how to be consistent and that comes with experience.
“It’s something he’s aware of and something he’s working hard at which is the important thing.”
The battle for the hooker position:
“That’s probably the one position in our team that there’s the most competition for.”
Train and triallist Doug Hewitt’s game at five-eighth:
“I thought Dougie was a bit quiet in patches early in the game.
“I was saying to him that I wanted him to get more involved and get his hands on the footy.
“He had some nice touches and I think he’ll certainly be good for Mackay and also be handy for us come Origin time.”
Patrick Kaufusi’s first match as a member of the NRL squad:
“Patty’s still eligible to play under-20s this year but he had some really strong carries.
“It was a good experience for him.”
Michael Morgan’s comeback from off-season surgery:
“He’s returned earlier than expected tonight. He wasn’t expected to play for probably a week or two so it’s a credit to him for the work he’s done in the pre-season.
“He had a shoulder operation and also an ankle operation and I thought he looked really sharp out there tonight. He had some good touches with the footy and also carried the ball strongly.
“It was very pleasing and good for Michael too for his own confidence.”
