- The Cowboys are set to face Cronulla on Friday night
- Winner will clash with Penrith for a spot in the grand final
The North Queensland Cowboys have been forced to ask the NRL for help getting to Sydney for their sudden-death final on Friday night after their fans snapped up all available seats on flights to the NSW capital.
Coach Todd Payten’s team are set to face Cronulla at Allianz Stadium in the city’s east but have had to resort to asking the league to help them source a charter flight south.
Two commercial flights that go direct from Townsville to Sydney are sold out due to sky-high demand from Cowboys supporters, despite seats costing as much as $1500 each.
‘We’re still working with the NRL through it,’ North Queensland head of football Micheal Luck told News Corp on Tuesday.
‘Hopefully we can get it sorted today, we need to know how we are getting down there and getting back.
‘There weren’t enough seats for us on any commercial flights, so the NRL was working with an agency to sort that out.’
Cowboys hooker Reece Robson poses with some of the club’s fans after they knocked Newcastle out of the finals on Saturday night. Ironically, their supporters’ passion has now left them needing help to get to Sydney to face Cronulla
Cowboys stars like Valentine Holmes (pictured with wife Natalia) are hoping the NRL can get them on a charter flight down south for Friday night’s sudden-death clash
Luck added that Virgin or Jetstar could come to the club’s rescue by putting on another commercial flight, which the airlines have done in the past.
The NRL helped the Newcastle Knights fly to Townsville for last Saturday night for their finals clash with the Cowboys.
North Queensland are very keen to stick to their usual timetable for games in Sydney, which sees them arrive the day before the match and make it to their hotel by 2pm.
A non-direct flight that forces the team to switch planes in Brisbane would add two to three hours to that, which Luck describes as ‘not ideal’.
Luck also opened up about how airlines strive to help meet footy teams’ needs.
‘The travel is tougher for our bigger guys. The airlines will put them in exit rows and make them as comfortable as possible, but they’re not in business class.’
North Queensland will face Penrith in the preliminary final if they can get past the Sharks on Friday night.
North Queensland’s Jason Taumalolo is pictured with fans after the victory over the Knights. Some supporters are paying as much as $1500 to fly to Sydney for the Sharks match
Their representative prop, Rueben Cotter, has revealed an honesty session held by the players was key to them developing the hard edge needed to succeed in finals footy.
The Cowboys beat the Storm 38-30 in Townsville in round 16, but it was not the hard-nosed performance they wanted against a side with 11 players rested.
They then went and flogged Canterbury 44-6 in Sydney, before securing a comeback 28-16 elimination-final win over Newcastle.
Cotter said the Storm win highlighted the need for a change in mindset.
‘Before the Bulldogs game we rallied the troops early in the week and we had a pretty big defensive session around our attitude,’ he said.
‘We were trying to get everyone to buy into it, and I think that was the turning point to be honest because it fixed our mentality.
