Cowboys centre Justin O'Neill has vowed to break out of the worst try-scoring season of his career and continue his love affair with NRL Grand Final Day so that North Queensland can complete their incredible run from eighth position with a win on Sunday
No team has ever won the Telstra Premiership after finishing in eighth position but given that 12 of the team that will line up against the Storm at ANZ Stadium were there to lift the Provan-Summons Trophy just two years ago there is an inner confidence that a second title in three years is their destiny.
After Brisbane jumped out of the blocks in 2015 it was a superbly worked move from a scrum that saw O'Neill slice through and score the Cowboys' first try of the grand final, three years after he scored the four-pointer that sealed Melbourne's 2012 win over the Bulldogs.
But it's not only in the top grade where O'Neill has shown an affinity for scoring on the game's greatest stage; in 2009 he scored a try in Melbourne's under-20s grand final win over the Wests Tigers.
Finding the try-line has become more problematic for O'Neill this season than at any other time in his eight seasons in the NRL to date and after enduring the longest try-scoring drought of his career to start the season, he broke through for his one and only four-pointer thus far against the Warriors in Round 20.
Since scoring nine tries in his first nine NRL games in 2010 O'Neill has averaged a try in every 2.25 games he has played, making just the one solitary touchdown from 19 games thus far in 2017 an uncharacteristically low return.
After an unfortunate error it was a tackle by O'Neill on Blake Ferguson that swung momentum back the way of the Cowboys last weekend against the Roosters but the 26-year-old is hoping to add to his tally of three tries from seven career NRL games at ANZ Stadium when it matters most.
"The occasion of the game can lift players sometimes and for me I feel like sometimes big games bring a bit more energy out of me," O'Neill told NRL.com.
"I find I can probably lift a little bit more for bigger games. I enjoy them and I like playing in the big games and that's probably half the reason I was so eager to get back and play.
"I didn't want to be sitting on the sideline for the rest of 2017. I wanted to be back and finishing my season at least giving my best effort playing finals footy."