When it comes to Origin auditions they don't come much better than Cowboys veteran Matt Scott racking up big metres and a barnstorming try against the Eels... but the test for Scott and his team-mates is to back it up in Canberra.
Scott made the last of his 22 Origin appearances in the final game of the 2016 series and then lost all of 2017 to an ACL injury.
The 33-year-old had his 2018 season cut short by neck surgery but has slowly warmed to his task in 2019 as the Cowboys have found form after a horror start, winning two of their past three games.
With Kevin Walters set to name his side for Game I after this weekend's round, Scott would love to make a statement against a strong Raiders pack led by fellow Maroon Josh Papalii.
“We're not getting ahead of ourselves," Scott said.
"We haven't managed to string two wins together so far this year, so for us to stay in it this season we need to do that but Canberra is a tough ask.
“We need to improve. We probably weren’t fantastic against the Eels and we need to execute much better, passing and probably our last plays to keep teams under pressure.
"We’ve just got to build on some of the things we did really well and improve on the parts we need to."
Scott's try against the Eels was his first of 2018 and the 18th of his 261-game career and was the result of some astute planning by the Cowboys.
Match Highlights: Cowboys v Eels
“We spoke about that play in particular working against Parra and it's good to talk about something during the week and then execute it on the night," Scott said.
"A couple of things came off [against the Eels]. I managed to break a few tackles and get a few offloads away but I go in with that mentality every week.
“When Moose [McGuire] signed I thought my minutes might have been limited and my role might have changed a bit, but it's been pretty much the same so far.
“I'm pretty lucky to play with Jase [Taumalolo] and Macca [Jordan McLean] who can punch out really big minutes and quality minutes.
“I've been trying to build my game since the start of the year and work towards that type of performance. I’m pretty happy with my consistency so far.”
