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Cowboys v Raiders preview
North Queensland Cowboys v Canberra Raiders
1300SMILES Stadium - Saturday 5:30pm 
Cowboys not slowing down, will the Raiders be their speed bump?
In what is shaping up to be an exciting game full of attacking intent, we head up to steamy Townsville for a match that can determine the make up of the top 8. The Cowboys go into this clash full of confidence and sky high moral. They put on a flurry of points in the last 30 minutes to blow the poor Parramatta Eels off the park on Monday Night. The Cowboys now hold number 2 on the ladder and also in the point scoring department. Their attack has almost been unstoppable in recent times and it will be interesting to see if Canberra can stem the flow of points this weekend given their defensive struggles throughout the season.
The Cowboys are unchanged for this weekends clash and will be hoping to record their 4th straight win and keep the pressure on the first place Brisbane Broncos.
Canberra again dared people to wrote them off at their own peril after coming back from 18-12 down to steam roll over Penrith 34-24 out in the West last Sunday. Blake Austin was again pulling the strings against his former club in the halves and continuing his brilliant 2015 campaign. Paul Vaughan is another of this young Canberra side to step up. he bagged a double on Sunday and ran for over 150 metres in his 38 minute stint. He has also had a superb year and is adding great value to coach Ricky Stuart's growing reputation down in the nations capital. Canberra will need to add some consistency to their play if they want to figure in Finals calculations. The Raiders have shown flashes of brilliance this year, but quite often have been unable to back it up with consistent efforts week in week out. A win here in Townsville would be a real shot in the arm for their confidence.
They make just the one change from last Weeks's win, and it's purely positional. Frank Paul Nuuluasala moves back to the bench and Paul Vaughan starts at prop after his man of the match effort last week.
Last Meeting: North Queensland Cowboys 21 Canberra Raiders 20 at Canberra Stadium, Round 15, 2015.
Jonathan Thurston's last second heroics broke Canberra hearts 6 weeks ago in a thrilling game, so revenge will be the order of the day for Canberra on Saturday evening.
North Queensland have won 7 of the past 9 against the Raiders and to make matters worse for the visitors they haven't won up In Townville since Round 12, 2006. In fact Canberra have won just 7 of 17 games at 1300Smiles Stadium. Can the Raiders break their drought come Saturday?
Who To Watch: For the Cowboys look at big Lock Forward Jason Taumololo. His 5 tackles breaks, 2 line breaks and a try last week was pure destruction. He is a monster of a human being and has the ability to run over any defender in the NRL. If the attacking play of the Cowboys (e.g. Morgan, Coote and Thurston) can isolate him with smaller defenders on Saturday then he will continue his rich vein of recent form. Taumololo isn't a workhorse but that's not his role in the Cowboys squad. He is a ball runner and with his ability to break tackles and offload, he could be a real handful on Saturday for the Green Machine to handle.
Canberra will privately be a little disappointed in the performance of Jack Wighton at full back this year. A boom youngster with huge wraps, he has struggled a little bit in his first year in the custodian role. Last week against Penrith he showed a little bit of the from that we saw when he was playing in the outside backs in 2013 and 2014 with Canberra. I'll be looking at Wighton making some purposeful charges back with the football to set Canberra up with good field position, something they'll need with the superb kicking game of the Cowboys. Also look for his link up play with Joey Leluia on the Right hand side. Canberra will need him to be playing at a very high level to win on Saturday night.
The Favourite: Cowboys are short priced favourites going into this game.
My Tip: Going for the upset in this clash. The Cowboys are due to lose one soon and haven't really been tested in the last 3 weeks,. the Raiders have the attack to really worry any team in this competition. Canberra's away form is also much better than their home form so works in their favour. Just feel that the Raiders have a little bit more to play for in this game as well as they are fighting for a top 8 berth.
That said, I fancy it will be a hell of a game.
Raiders to get revenge in a golden point thriller by 1.
1. Lachlan Coote 2. Matthew Wright 3. Justin O'Neill 4. Kane Linnett 5. Antonio Winterstein 6. Michael Morgan 7. Johnathan Thurston 8. Matthew Scott 9. Jake Granville 10. James Tamou 11. Gavin Cooper 12. Ethan Lowe 13. Jason Taumalolo
Interchange: 14. Rory Kostjasyn 15. John Asiata 16. Scott Bolton 17. Ben Hannant
1. Jack Wighton 2. Edrick Lee 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Joseph Leilua 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Blake Austin 7. Josh McCrone 8. Paul Vaughan 9. Josh Hodgson 10. David Shillington 11. Josh Papalii 12. Iosia Soliola 13. Shaun Fensom
Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste 15. Jarrad Kennedy 16. Frank Paul Nuuausala 17. Shannon Boyd
Referees: Gerard Sutton, Dave Munro; Sideline Officials: Michael Wise, Belinda Sleeman; Video Referees: Shayne Hayne, Ben Galea;