Prop Brenton Lawrence is far from fazed about tackling the undefeated North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday night.
With the Sea Eagles searching for their first win and still missing big men Martin Taupau and Addin Fonua-Blake through suspension, the challenge of facing the Jonathan Thurston led Cowboys might daunt some supporters, but not Lawrence who will lead the Manly forward pack with fellow prop Nate Myles.
"Taking on the Cowboys in Townsville is tough but what better challenge than to turn it around,’’ Lawrence said.
“That’s what football is made of. Facing adversity and coming up against a challenge.
“To me, that’s exciting. I said to some of the boys after the loss to Souths, I want to be in that situation again, but I want a different result this time.”
Asked as to what the keys were to stopping the Cowboys, Lawrence said the team had to concentrate for the full match and not suffer any lapses in defence like they did against Souths.
“The Cowboys are a great team. They don’t make many mistakes. We need to be consistent with our football throughout the 80 minutes,’’ Lawrence said.
“We need to complete our sets, kick well, and play the game in the right end of the field.
“All of the football cliché things but they stand true. You need to perform at a high level for 80 minutes. If you want to beat the Cowboys, you have to reach their level.
“JT is their general and he directs them everywhere. Like any half, you want to limit their time on the ball.
“I don’t always like to focus too much on individuals of a team. I like to think of my job as an individual, and us as a team, and to how we are performing.
“He is the world’s best player and is amazing to watch. You just have to try and not watch him play football when you are out there, and remember, you are actually playing against him.
“I have confident in our ability to score points and with ‘Chez’ and ‘Greeny’ in the halves, we can do some amazing things with the ball. We showed some really good class against Souths, but defensively, we need to fix a few things.”
