Ryan down as Cowboys welcome winless Jets to the graveyard

Ryan missed virtually the whole second half of the Cowboys’ 26-16 victory over Forbes at Kennard Park last round with sciatic nerve pain in his lower back.

The Cowboys centre has also battled a knee complaint over the course of the opening five rounds of the season and reeled out of a clash with a Forbes opponent last week, but insists his right knee won’t pose any long-term issues.

“I’ve been through the wars,” he smiled.

“I’ll definitely take next week off and then there’s the long weekend. Hopefully I’ll be right for Macquarie (on June 17).”

Narromine is winless from its opening five games of the season, but has shown gradual improvement, pushing Forbes in an 18-14 result in round four.

In a bid to ensure the Cowboys aren’t the first side to drop points to the Jets, without Ryan, more responsibility will fall on the likes of Justin Toomey-White and halves AJ Davis and Richard Peckham.

In his first appearance in the top grade since round one, Peckham was a stand-out for Cowboys in the 10-point win over the Magpies and Ryan is hopeful the tough-as-nails pivot will own the No.6 jersey at the club this season.

With Davis steering the ship at halfback, Ryan is hoping a Davis-Peckham combination will prove a valuable one for the Cowboys in 2018.

“We really need to gel in the halves, we’ve had four halves combinations in five weeks,” he said.

“It takes its toll, I guess, we’re trying to gel the team and then there’s injuries and a few missing and it makes it harder.”

Despite that lack of continuity, Wellington still sits inside the Group 11 top three and Ryan is unabashed about his side’s goal come the end of the regular season in 2018.

“That’s where we’re aiming to finish to get the two cracks,” he said.

The Cowboys host Narromine at Kennard Park on Sunday, league tag kicks off at 11am.