THE pain of Carl Webb's Origin snub is set to fuel a depleted North Queensland's desperate bid to end its NRL losing run against South Sydney tonight.
The Cowboys need something special to break an eight-game drought, especially after losing playmaker Chris Sheppard
to a hamstring injury.
But North Queensland has tipped an in-form Webb to produce just that by taking his Origin frustration out on the Rabbitohs at Townsville.
Queensland chairman of selectors Des Morris revealed how close Webb had come to bumping Broncos prop Ben Hannant when the unchanged Maroons outfit for July 2’s series decider was named this week.
And the omission clearly shocked Cowboys skipper Johnathan Thurston who
implored the barnstorming prop to "hold his head up high".
Stand-in skipper Aaron Payne made it clear who they would be looking to for inspiration.
"It’s a credit to him how he has handled himself after the disappointment of missing out on the Origin team," Payne said of Webb.
The Cowboys – already without an Origin-bound Thurston – added another to their lengthy injury list yesterday.
Anthony Watts moves from fullback to halfback for Sheppard, opening the way for under 20s No.1 Sam Bowie, a 19-year-old apprentice carpenter from Thursday Island, to make his NRL debut.
Also playing his first NRL game will be Cairns centre Brandon Boor off the bench.
Boor, 20 – who signed a two-year deal with the Cowboys just last week – bumped Ben Farrar to Queensland Cup.
