South Sydney Rabbitohs Head Coach Anthony Seibold is not taking the North Queensland Cowboys lightly following the team's arrival in Townsville.
Despite languishing in 14th position on the ladder after a 3-7 start, Seibold insists that they are a force to be reckoned with given the amount of talent in their side and their ability to reach last year's Grand Final in the absence of Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott.
"I look from a coaching point of view at the trends in their game and they've done really well. If you look two weeks ago they were leading 20-0 against Penrith who are second on the table at the moment," said Seibold.
"They came out and blasted the Panthers away in Bathurst so we need to make sure that we're very strong from the start. A team that has Morgan, Thurston, Matt Scott, Taumalolo and those guys. Then you include Gavin Cooper, Coen Hess who are both Origin backrowers. There's quality across the park."
"Again, they are the Grand Finalists from last year and they've added Matt Scott and JT to that. As I said their true form was two weeks ago in that first half against Penrith. That's what we're preparing for."
Both sides are coming off different results following last week's round with the Cowboys looking to bounce back from their 20-12 loss at the hands of the Tigers, while Seibold's side took centre stage after beating the Dragons 24-10.
As has been the theme all season, Seibold insists that the side was quick to drop that match and move forward into the impending clash with the Cowboys, not before lending a strong show of support to teammate Cody Walker.
"We've got a mentality as a group that our next job is our most important job so we dumped the Dragons game really quickly because we wanted to go support Cody Walker's family.
"We went to Cody's mum's funeral on Monday so we didn't have too much time to reflect on the Dragons game and Tuesday was straight into preparing for the Cowboys. We've had a solid preparation and we're looking forward to the game against some really quality players," he said.
"It's been an emotional couple of weeks for Cody in particular. I thought he held himself really well. We're all very proud of him and as I said we wanted to support him."
The Cowboys on the other hand look set to bring Cairns product Enari Tuala into their side following last week's first half hat-trick for Queensland Cup Northern Pride. A player the coaching staff has been watching closely.
"I expect Tuala to play. We watched his game against Redcliffe on the weekend where he scored three tries. He was marking Moses Pangai who's a very strong centre in Queensland Cup so we expect him to come into the starting 13 somewhere."
As for the Rabbitohs junior players, Seibold has been pleased with their progress, enthusiasm and energy that they've brought to the side.
"From our point of view Campbell Graham, Cameron Murray those types of guys made their debuts in the back end of last year and Adam Doueihi in the early rounds. They've started the year really soundly."
The Rabbitohs and Cowboys kick off at 5.30pm tomorrow night at 1300 Smiles Stadium with the return match set to be played in Cairns just five rounds later.
Tickets for the Rabbitohs home game in Carins can be purchased here.
