Narrowed focus has Neame looking forward to more progress

It’s wasn’t pretty, but Cowboys forward Griffin Neame is hoping his side’s win over the Titans is a sign of better things to come.

It had been a tough few weeks leading into their close 30-24 Round 17 win over the Gold Coast, with North Queensland suffering three heavy losses in a row, including conceding more than 50 points to the Dolphins.

While the Titans made them work for their win, Neame said he was happy his side were able to return to play their style of football after spending the past week focusing only on their own game during their review.

“Our last couple of weeks have been pretty tough on us,” Neame said.  

“We just wanted to worry about ourselves and we knew the next win was going to be a tough win and we just had to fight our way to win and we did that. It was scrappy, but a win’s a win.

“The last few weeks, we've been a bit off and haven't been playing the way we wanted to play, so we just narrowed down on fixing the things that we need to fix as a team.

“We just worried about ourselves and to just get that part right and I think we were a bit better (against the Titans).

“The last few weeks, all the boys are pretty annoyed with how we've been playing and we really wanted to fix it … we've had so many errors and it just drains you mentally and then you've got to tackle so much which takes so much energy out of you.

“I think we just wanted to hold onto the ball and kick to corners and it was a little bit better.”

This week, they host the Melbourne Storm, with both teams missing a key contingent of players due to State of Origin.

The Storm will be missing captain Harry Grant as well as Cameron Munster, Trent Loiero and Xavier Coates for the Maroons as well as Stefano Utoikamanu for the Blues, while the Cowboys will be without Reece Robson who is backing up for NSW as well co-captains Reuben Cotter and Tom Dearden and forward Jeremiah Nanai.

After spending most of the season coming from the bench, Neame has been named to make his third starting appearance against a Storm pack that will still feature plenty of threats and said he was looking forward to the challenge.

“I'm keen as, every challenge is exciting in the NRL,” Neame said.

“Every player wants to take that next level.

“We've got a few boys playing Origin and a few of us have just got to step up, knuckle down and just take some of that load that they do.”

On his own form, Neame – who featured in representative football himself playing for the Kiwis at the Pacific Championships last year – said he had to work to build up his confidence again after a disappointing start to the season.

However, he said coach Todd Payten’s direct approach to making improvements on the field had been appreciated.

“I was quite confident to start the season, but I think I've been pretty slow, I haven't really been happy with the way I've been playing, I've been a bit inconsistent," Neame said. 

“I've just had to work on a few little things, it wasn't the way I wanted to start the season, but I've just been trying to knuckle down, fix some of the little stuff and I can take a little bit of confidence from the Titans game and keep building from that.

“I think rugby league's a pretty simple game, but when you're overcomplicate it, it hurts you a bit.

“I think I just have to simplify my game a bit, run hard tackle hard, and the rest of it will come off the back of that.

“Toddy's good, Toddy's real honest with you. If there's something he doesn't like or he wants you to be better at it, he'll let you know about it. I think that's good as a coach.

“You need to be honest with your players.

“That's our profession. We're all trying to improve, and I guess that little bit of advice, if you take it the right way, it can help you there.”