{"id":408188,"date":"2024-07-01T05:23:07","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T05:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=408188"},"modified":"2024-07-01T06:04:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T06:04:53","slug":"cam-smiths-huge-dark-horse-call-after-surprise-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=408188","title":{"rendered":"Cam Smith's huge 'dark horse' call after surprise win"},"content":{"rendered":"

C\ufeffameron Smith<\/a> has labelled the Cowboys<\/a> as a premiership "dark horse" following an upset victory over the Panthers in round 17.<\/p>\n

With both sides missing a host of Origin representatives, North Queensland travelled out to the foot of the Mountains and showed plenty of resolve in a \ufeff16-6 win.<\/p>\n

The visitors also spent a quarter of the game with 12 men on the field<\/a>, with\ufeff young gun Jaxon Purdue and star fullback Scott Drinkwater both spending time in the sin bin.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Shocked' Hockeyroos in disbelief over selection snub<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Way off the mark': Gallen busts Broncos myth<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Blues star inks fresh deal after lengthy contract saga<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Todd Payten<\/a>'s side however resisted plenty of field position held by the clunky Panthers\ufeff, moving back into the top-eight and putting their rivals on notice.<\/p>\n

Speaking on SEN Radio on Monday morning, Smith heaped praise on the Cowboys and believes recent performances without their rep stars has shown their true character.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"That was a really tough effort on the weekend," hSEN 1170 Breakfast<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"They seem to be playing pretty good football without their Origin players, which is strange. I was there for the game where they took on the Roosters and it was one of the best games of the year … they had a really strong win in Sydney.<\/p>\n

"I actually had them as my premiership favourites for this year, they were a little bit disappointing in the first half of the year. If they find their defence that we seen from a couple of seasons ago, there's no doubt that they've got great ability with the football.<\/p>\n

\"Cowboys<\/p>\n

"If they can get their defence sorted\u2026 then they're a chance of doing some really good things in this comp. When they get all their players back and if they can play to their capabilities, they're a real dark horse in this competition."<\/p>\n

North Queensland have a stacked roster and with attacking threats all across the park, and could certainly be a danger side should they hold their spot in the finals picture.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> <\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Smith also raised the point that the Cowboys have only had one bye this season and once they earn another four \ufeffpoints, their ladder position will only improve.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremiah<\/p>\n

"This is why I wish the NRL would scrap these two points for byes because it gives you a bit of a false sense of where everyone's at," he said.<\/p>\n

"They had to play 15 games without a bye, some other teams have had two already. As soon as they get these extra points for these byes, they'll start jumping up the ladder."<\/p>\n

North Queensland made a prelim final in 2022 but missed the top-eight last season, with pressure beginning to mount on coach Payten prior to their gritty win on Sunday. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Payten's men will take on the Sea Eagles in round 18, with both sides stuck in the mid-table logjam and desperate for a victory.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Tom Dearden, Murray Taulagi, Jeremiah Nanai, Valentine Holmes and \ufeffReece Robson are all slated to return for the crucial fixture in Townsville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

C\ufeffameron Smith has labelled the Cowboys as a premiership "dark horse" following an upset victory over the Panthers in round 17. With both sides missing […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":408190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=408188"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408192,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408188\/revisions\/408192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/408190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=408188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=408188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=408188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}