Cowboys come home strong
The Cowboys beat the Bulldogs 28–12 at Accor Stadium in front of 15,132 in Round 9. They led 12–6 at half-time and never looked back.
Scott Drinkwater scored 2 tries. Reed Mahoney (Cowboys) was the standout with 71 fantasy points. The Cowboys won the metres battle 1,693 to 1,612.
Our Final Tip had the Bulldogs at 56% (a coin flip) and got it wrong. The bookies had the other side as favourites, so this one was an upset.
Bulldogs
LLWLL
Cowboys
WLWWW
Game flow
Bulldogs · above
Cowboys · below
Show scoring as a table
| Min | Team | Player | Event | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7' | Bulldogs | Lachlan Galvin | Try | 4–0 |
| 9' | Bulldogs | Stephen Crichton | Conversion | 6–0 |
| 18' | Cowboys | Reuben Cotter | Try | 6–4 |
| 20' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 6–6 |
| 28' | Cowboys | Scott Drinkwater | Try | 6–10 |
| 30' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 6–12 |
| 52' | Bulldogs | Josh Curran | Try | 10–12 |
| 53' | Bulldogs | Stephen Crichton | Conversion | 12–12 |
| 65' | Cowboys | Scott Drinkwater | Try | 12–16 |
| 66' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 12–18 |
| 74' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Try | 12–22 |
| 76' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 12–24 |
| 78' | Cowboys | Braidon Burns | Try | 12–28 |
Team stats
Better on the day
BulldogsCowboys
50%
Possession
50%
81%
Completion rate
77%
1,612
Run metres
1,693
623
Post-contact metres
596
1
Line breaks
6
30
Tackle breaks
33
11
Offloads
12
736
Kick metres
618
88.0%
Effective tackle %
90.1%
33
Missed tackles
30
12
Errors
13
3
Penalties conceded
6
| CBY | NQL | |
|---|---|---|
| Six-again (ruck) | ||
| Dangerous Tackle | ||
| 2nd Effort | ||
| Holding Down | ||
| Late Tackle | ||
| Offside General | ||
| Offside inside 10m | ||
| Other | ||
| Total | 5 | 9 |
Positional battles
Combined numbers per position group · more fantasy points takes the battle
Fullbacks
NQL 53-20
Tracey
Drinkwater
129
Run metres
97
52
Kick return metres
14
4
Tackle breaks
3
0
Line breaks
1
Halves
NQL 103-101
Burton, Galvin
Clifford, Dearden
0
Try assists
1
0
Line-break assists
1
651
Kick metres
451
0
Errors
0
Hookers
NQL 71-43
Hayward
Mahoney
45
Tackles
57
5
Run metres
20
69
Passes
114
0
Errors
2
Middles
NQL 141-122
Hughes, Thompson, Salmon
Hess, Taumalolo, Cotter
279
Run metres
333
115
Post-contact metres
127
85
Tackles
95
3
Missed tackles
6
Back row
CBY 108-59
Tupouniua, Preston
Luki, Nanai
216
Run metres
138
5
Tackle breaks
3
79
Tackles
59
4
Missed tackles
5
Outside backs
NQL 140-124
Sua, Xerri, Crichton, Tuala
Burns, Purdue, Chester, Laybutt
621
Run metres
606
0
Line breaks
4
0
Tries
1
6
Errors
6
Best performers
NQL
Reed Mahoney
71
CBY
Lachlan Galvin
66
CBY
Leo Thompson
63
NQL
Thomas Mikaele
62
NQL
Reuben Cotter
59
CBY
Jacob Preston
58
CBY
Josh Curran
57
NQL
Tom Dearden
53
Show performers as a table
| Player | Team | Fantasy | Run m | Tackle breaks | Line breaks | Tries | Try assists | Tackles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reed Mahoney | Cowboys | 71 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 57 |
| Lachlan Galvin | Bulldogs | 66 | 107 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24 |
| Leo Thompson | Bulldogs | 63 | 161 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| Thomas Mikaele | Cowboys | 62 | 162 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| Reuben Cotter | Cowboys | 59 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 47 |
| Jacob Preston | Bulldogs | 58 | 77 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 |
| Josh Curran | Bulldogs | 57 | 72 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 37 |
| Tom Dearden | Cowboys | 53 | 121 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 |
Head-to-head
2025 R19Cowboys home
CBY
12
8
NQL
Bulldogs by 4
2024 R27Bulldogs home
CBY
6
44
NQL
Cowboys by 38
2024 R20Cowboys home
CBY
18
20
NQL
Cowboys by 2
2023 R5Bulldogs home
CBY
15
14
NQL
Bulldogs by 1
2022 R21Bulldogs home
CBY
14
28
NQL
Cowboys by 14
How we tipped it
Chance each model gave the Cowboys · right of 50% = tipped the winner
Generated automatically from nrl.com match data and our own models · 2026-09-25 05:16:48 UTC