Scott Bolton has a certain look about him: slightly hang dog, a hint of stubble. It’s a old school look. He could be 27 or 42; he’s sort of ageless. It’s like he was never young, like his head has been carved from a mighty cedar or mountain redwood by Native Americans and left to sit on the plinth of his neck, defying the elements, impervious to pain, glaring at his enemies.
And that’s what Bolton (30) and his North Queensland Cowboys will face Sunday evening in the denouement to this NRL season: enemies in the form of the mighty Melbourne Storm machine. Theirs is high-octane, best-practice, hyper-physical, “perfect” rugby league. If you let them crush you, they will. Storm will grind your head into the dirt and laugh flecks of hot wet spittle in your face.
How do you beat a bully? Grind them back. Do it better. Beat them at their game. Make them think; make them worry. Scare them. And the man the Cowboys have entrusted with the task of putting the frighteners on the Storm is the man who’s ripped off the gig all year – Scott Bolton, the quiet man with the big stick of justice.
Once an Innisfail Leprechaun, Bolton is today the big man on campus, the show-stopper in the middle, charged with throwing his 110 kilograms at those rampaging monsters the Storm will throw at him: Jesse Bromwich, Jordan McClean, Nelson Asofa-Solomona. If raw numbers are anything to go by – and they are – Bolton is well in the contest. Indeed he could dominate it.
Since Matt Scott was injured in March, Bolton’s numbers have been among the best of his kind. So good was he that in June the Courier-Mail was wondering why he couldn’t get a gig for the Maroons given his run metres-per-game dwarfed those of Dylan Napa and Jarrod Wallace.
In this finals series, Bolton’s work has ratcheted up again. Against the Roosters he amassed 157 metres, the second-most of any forward behind the indomitable Jason Taumololo (a staggering 256m). A week before, against Parramatta Eels, Bolton notched 171m, again second only among forwards to Taumalolo (242m). Against the Sharks Bolton ran 141m, made 45 tackles and put his hand on the ball while Paul Gallen was trying to play the ball or milk a penalty, whichever came first.
Team-mates willl tell you Bolton will do a job as he always has. A senior man, he’s a calming influence for the youth, particularly tyro prop Corey Jensen, a Townsville Blackhawk. Running out behind such a man as Bolton makes young ones feel better, safer even. Bolton has played 11 seasons and 204 first grade games in the NRL. He’s a local boy and a one-club player. And he’s approaching – if he hasn’t already reached it – ornament status.
After a 26-6 loss to Parramatta in May Bolton showed leadership when he told assembled press types: “We’re just not tough enough in areas and consistent in games”. Critical stuff like this is usually kept in-house, and even away from sensitive young ears. Criticism is often couched in platitudes. Bolton, though, is a straight-talking bushie and set the truth free.
“We’ve got to be honest with each other and accountable for each other’s efforts, it’s got to be better if we want to win games,” he said. “I can guarantee you one thing, we’ll be coming out here next week and working on all these things, it will be a pretty honest review.”
Asked about the Cowboys completion rate of just 23 of 35 sets, he said: “It’s embarrassing, is what it is. We’ve got players out there who can do some pretty special things, we’ve just got to grind teams down a bit more than what we’ve been doing. Completing at 60% just isn’t good enough. You’re not going to win games.”
All season the Cowboys hobbled around midfield. They limped through Origin, lost their champion play-maker and snuck into the finals in eighth spot because the Bulldogs beat the Dragons.
And then they started playing finals footy. And people asked: who are these Cowboys and what have they done with the Cowboys?
Against Parramatta they completed 100% of sets in the first half, 85% in the second. Against the Roosters they completed 35 of 39 sets and had 58% of possession. Bolton’s numbers included 22 tackles, a line-break and a try on the death that sent the Cowboys coach’s box into rapture.
How Melbourne “handle” Taumalolo will go a long way to deciding Sunday’s fixture. But Bolton will have a loud say in it. It’s just that his work will be under-stated, raw-boned and willing.
Middle men like Bolton operate in something of a vacuum. They are there to hit and be hit. Not for “the middles” the admiration for soft hands or nippy feet, though they find these things useful, even cute. Rather middles talk of “dominance” and “winning” and “crushing one’s enemies, seeing them driven before you”, though that last was (probably) just Conan the Barbarian.
Regardless, Melbourne Storm love this stuff. But the Cowboys have shown a propensity for it also. And they have not blinked. They’ve shown no fear. Perhaps it’s there, perhaps they do worry, as the Roosters worried, and the Eels worried, and the Sharks worry still.
But the Cowboys, they just keep on truckin’ it up, working the angles, playing the game. The Storm are well-drilled, well-coached and have champions in key positions but Bolton and his band of buccaneers, riding a magical bus ride to immortality, will not let their opponents do what they want. And Bolton will bully the Storm back. He looks like he will, anyway.
