The Canterbury-Bankstown club entered the NSWRL competition in 1935, and there is some pretty compelling evidence that they may not have been quite ready for the experience.
Thrown into the professional competition they succumbed to two well-established clubs in defeats which to this day remain at the top of the record book as the biggest floggings in Australian top grade rugby league history. In May of 1935, Eastern Suburbs lapped the "See-Bees", as they were then known, 87-7. Just one week later, the mighty St George Dragons said "hold my beer" and bettered that mark with a 91-6 annihilation. Remembering that tries were worth just three points back then.
Canterbury- Bankstown managed to win just two games and lost 14 in that inaugural season. They scored 150 points on the way to conceding a massive 660. Just three years later, in 1938, they remarkably won the premiership.
Until last night, when the Roosters eviscerated the Cowboys 82-12, no other team has had over 80 points scored against them since the 1935 See-Bees. And the Roosters really could have scored more. Captain James Tedesco was tearing the Cowboys apart in the first half. His interchanges with Reece Robson and Sam Walker were opening the Cowboys middle up like a can of peaches. Fans of Super Coach would have noticed Tedesco was on 106 points when the Roosters jogged off after 40 minutes leading 48-6.
With coach Trent Robinson deciding to give Tedesco's rolled ankle the rest of the night off, it was left to Sam Walker to continue the Roosters rout. The Queensland halfback ended up with a hat trick of tries, 13/14 conversions, countless try assists -- including one that would not have looked out of place in the FIFA World Cup -- and 199 Super Coach points. It was a display which had commentators speculating on the size of the contract he is currently negotiating.
There was a 20-minute period after halftime where it appeared as though the Roosters were satisfied with their work. With Tedesco watching from the sheds, the visitors took their feet off the gas and the Cowboys actually managed to score six points to four. But all the talk from coach Todd Payten about ending the embarrassment didn't linger long enough in his players' minds as they went back to disgraceful levels of defensive commitment allowing a further five tries in the final quarter of the game.
"That's absolutely unacceptable. And as a coach for this club, it's one of our darkest days, if not the darkest day, and I'd like to apologise to our members and fans that turned up here today and those that watched it at home," Payten said after the defeat.
"I don't think we review that. We certainly discuss it, but the message is we're in on Monday, ready to work.
"We've got to find a way to get it back up week after week.
"I'm not making changes, that's our best team. What happened tonight's not acceptable, but they get a chance to bite down on the mouth guard and go next Thursday."
The loss does much more than humiliate a team that was gearing up for a finals run, it severely threatens their place in the Top 8. Missing out on the two competition points was bad enough, but taking a 70-point hit to their for-and-against record could prove fatal with that statistic being the deciding factor for teams finishing level.
They now sit in eighth position with the Sea Eagles and Bulldogs two points behind them. The Cowboys' differential has gone from -28 to -98. The Sea Eagles differential is +90 and they have the bye this weekend, while the Bulldogs have a differential of -58 and a game against the Storm to come tonight. Just a further two points behind those two teams are the Raiders with a -35 differential and a clash with the Panthers this weekend.
It was a night that the Townsville faithful may want to forget, but a night that they may have to remember long into the future.
