Sacking of North Queensland coach Neil Henry was the moment that let the Cowboys free LEADING Cowboys players say Neil Henry's sacking has removed a psychological burden after the squad held a series of team meetings in a desperate bid to revive their season. The confession came as centre Kane Linnett, who played alongside Todd Carney in the Roosters' 2010 grand final team, outlined the Cowboys' plan to defensively target the Sharks playmaker. Steeled by six consecutive wins, the Cowboys believe they have the personnel to be finals giant killers, starting against Cronulla in Saturday's elimination final at Allianz Stadium. The Cowboys were in crisis in late July when Henry had his 2014 contracts rescinded, but it has now emerged as a key moment in North Queensland's charge to the playoffs. With their season in turmoil, Cowboys players held a number of forums without Henry to dissect why their campaign was going off the rails after pre-season predictions of a top-four finish. Linnett said the frustration and tension had accumulated to a point where the termination of Henry helped break the shackles emotionally and motivate their late-season surge. "There was constant talk about Neil in the papers and personally I was sick of reading about it," said Linnett, who played centre outside Carney in the Roosters' 32-8 loss to the Dragons in the 2010 decider. Cowboys coach Neil Henry expects more from his troops. Obviously we didn't want Neil to get the sack, but that happening gave us clarity and the way Neil handled it, keeping his head up, earned a lot of respect from the boys. There were mixed emotions. We didn't want it (Henry's sacking) to come to that, but we are playing for each other now and building momentum. We had a couple of meetings when we were losing a fair bit. We were trying to work out what was going wrong. Some of the boys were disappointed, we discussed ways to turn it around ... everyone was pretty frustrated. But after what happened to Neil, he said everything that needed to be said. He believed that we could make the finals and win six in a row. We stuck tight and here we are. Statistically, the Cowboys' metamorphosis has been emphatic, making marked improvements in 12 key categories. In the past six weeks, Henry's troops have increased their attacking potency by a staggering 87 per cent, reduced their error-rate by 11 per cent and are conceding 12 points per game, compared to 19.9 prior to round 21. Premiership-winning centre Brent Tate recalled how the Cowboys went from despair to hope as co-captains Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott presided over the meetings. "This could be seen in the future as the making of Matty and JT as leaders," Tate said. If we are being honest we didn't give ourselves a chance of ending up in the finals, so we were as guilty as anyone. It is a credit to Neil as well, the way he has carried himself and put the team ahead of his own interests. Who's to say how much further we can go. I'm certainly not putting a limit on it because I believe this group is capable of anything. Linnett's grand-final experience tells him the Cowboys have the weapons to go all the way, but he says the side must first stop Sharks pivot Carney running riot. "With Carney back in there, he creates opportunities for them and gets them across the field," Linnett said. Hopefully we can get stuck into him in defence and take a bit of spark out of his attack. I definitely think we can win it. When (the Roosters) made the GF in 2010, the top-four were pretty dominant but anyone in the eight this year can give it a good crack. With the momentum we have at the moment, we can cause some upsets. But it's a whole new ball game now and we have to keep our minds on the job.