Perseverance pays off as Drinkwater conquers finals frontier

All good things come to those who wait, and after enduring three challenging seasons in Townsville, Scott Drinkwater will finally get his first taste of finals football on Saturday.

Four years after making his NRL debut for Melbourne in the final round of the 2018 season, the elusive 25-year-old is ready to play his part in the Cowboys' push for a second premiership, and he'll do it from his favourite position at fullback.

That's where he started his Cowboys journey after joining the club mid-season in 2019 but there have been plenty of twists and turns since then, with Drinkwater shifted to five-eighth for two seasons to accommodate Valentine Holmes playing fullback before reclaiming the No.1 jersey this year.

Another massive change in 2022 has been the fortunes of the Cowboys, who have emerged from four seasons in the doldrums to finish third on the ladder and set up a Qualifying Final against the Sharks at PointsBet Stadium.

After they stunned the competition to make the 2017 Grand Final from eighth on the ladder, the Cowboys won just 29 games between 2018-21 before the arrival of Todd Payten and Chad Townsend and the emergence of an exciting crop of youngsters has seen them rocket up the charts.

“We’ve definitely had a few tough seasons up here so it’s just exciting that the Cowboys are not only back in the finals but in the top four,” Drinkwater told NRL.com

“It’s a new season come finals time and we’ve got to get ready for that. We’re lucky to have some great leaders here who have had some finals experience and I think that will be a huge help.

“It’s a big turnaround and I think our fans deserve to watch this club in the finals, this team means so much to the community and I’m just glad we’ve been putting in some good performances.”

Drinkwater and hooker Reece Robson have both waited 71 NRL games to get a crack at finals footy, the two most experienced Cowboys yet to taste September action.

They line up alongside nine fellow Cowboys also taking part in their first final, including breakout stars Tom Dearden, Jeremiah Nanai and Murray Taulagi.

“For a lot of our lads, this will be our first finals series, so we have no idea what it’s like to play this level of footy,” Drinkwater said.

“The last couple of years we haven’t got there so I know how tough it is tough to make the finals. It’s a whole new ball game.

“If you see how Penrith have played, it’s just set-for-set fast footy, so that’s what I’m preparing myself for finals footy to be like.

“I definitely believe that when we’re on our game, we’re a very good side and that we could match it with the likes of Penrith.

“I think we’ve just got to get rid of our clumsy errors. Where we let some teams off the hook is when we make mistakes and don’t put on enough pressure.”

The Sharks and Cowboys have been the two biggest success stories of 2022, climbing from ninth and 15th respectively to finish top four and stake their claims for a premiership.

“It gets pretty hostile down at Shark Park so it should be a pretty exciting game,” Drinkwater said.

“They’re a very attacking team. They play footy anywhere, especially inside their 30 they’re not afraid to shift the ball.

“They’ve also got a very athletic backline, their back five run hard and they’re just skilful and back their footy so we’ve got a big job ahead of us this week.

“Nicho (Hynes) is playing some outstanding footy and I guess he’s our main guy to try and contain come Saturday.”

Hailing from Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast, Drinkwater served his apprenticeship in the Storm system and was at the head of the queue to replace the great Billy Slater before a torn pectoral in the 2019 pre-season trials opened the door a couple of other handy No.1s.

When Drinkwater returned from injury in mid-2019, Jahrome Hughes had slotted in at fullback and later that season it was Ryan Papenhuyzen in the No.1 when Hughes shifted to halfback.

Seeing the writing on the wall, Drinkwater requested a release to join the Cowboys early, making his club debut in Round 15, 2019 against the Dragons.

After spending most of 2020 and 2021 at five-eighth, Drinkwater started this year behind young gun Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow for the No.1 jersey, 

“When I didn’t get picked and was named as a reserve in the first few rounds I got pretty hungry to earn a spot in the team,” he said.

“Then about five weeks in I got the opportunity to play at fullback, Tommy (Dearden) and Chaddy (Townsend) were going so well and I just thought I’ve probably got about three or four games to cement a spot in this team.

“Cowboys were looking like they were going to be pretty successful and I wanted to be a part of it.

“I tried to turn up every week with a good mindset of getting in there and playing footy so I guess I’m just fortunate I get to play off the back of a lot of good players and just happy that Todd kept me."