It didn't matter that the task was harder than usual. Or that no one was watching. Or that the dressing shed didn't belong to the Cowboys. Forget the fact his side had just crashed to a mid-season golden-point loss when few were watching. And even fewer cared what the losing coach was doing in an empty and soulless change room.

Chairs needed to be stacked. And there was only one person, with one arm, around to do it. So Green did it.

He wants his football team to be a representation of the north Queensland community. They work hard on the field, even harder off it.

"The brand of footy a club plays ... you have to have that connection to the community and that's what north Queensland is about," Green says. "That's what country people are about.

"It's more than our team. How we play does represent the region and that way the fans find it easier to connect to the team. It's much more of a representation of the region."

The greatest mystery is not how a Cowboys side missing circa $2 million of their salary cap for most of the season are 80 minutes away from a grand final, but why their coach doesn't get more plaudits?

Plonk Green in charge of a Sydney team and maybe more would be fawning over a man who has led the Cowboys to a maiden title, made the grand final qualifier twice and the second week of the play-offs in his four years as an NRL head coach.

It's some record, even allowing for having JT on his books.

Yet even for a Queensland boy it took time for Green to understand the enormity of coaching Townsville's NRL team, tipping out Trent Barrett, Brad Arthur and Kevin Walters to be Neil Henry's successor.

It was only when the Cowboys slumped to a one-point loss to the Roosters in the finals during his first year in charge - trailing by 30, drawing level, going behind again and then having a late try chalked off for a contentious forward pass - that Green fully understand what he was in for.

That gut-wrencher came after the "Hand of Foz" and seventh-tackle try debacles of previous finals expeditions. Yet Green drew a line in the sand, straight after the Cowboys got the rock star treatment upon their return to the north. No more excuses.

"I was strong with our leaders [that] we need to get past [the referee blaming] as a club," says Green, ironically attracting his own sanction just this season for an uncustomary referee outburst.

"When we got back here after the game and the airport was packed ... that was really when it hit home with me how strong the connection the team has with the community. That was probably the first time I really understood that."

The man sitting in the opposite coaching box on Saturday night, Roosters boss Trent Robinson, has been a mate just as much as mentor. The pair keep in regular contact, Robinson giving his blessing for Green to pursue a head coaching role after the tricolours landed the 2013 crown when Green was one of Robinson's assistants.

A smile flashed across Robinson's face when asked about Green on match eve. He doesn't need reminding about how good the man he will match wits with is in charge of his own footy team.

"He's a top quality person which you don't always have to be to be a short-term coach, but to be a long term coach I think it helps," Robinson said. "He knows his footy so he's a good tactician. And he's passionate."

Almost as if he wants to troll all the clubs he's ever had anything to do with, Green's patched-up Cowboys have beaten the Sharks and Eels to open the finals. The Roosters and Broncos are the only other teams he played for. He can cross another off the list at Allianz Stadium.

Almost as if he's a 20-year veteran of the caper, Green has talked just as well as he's coached of late.

He called the Eels "certainties" pre game. Plucked Matt Scott from nowhere into his 21-man squad this week, ensuring the pressure vacuum is sucked dry around the men who have got his side this far. The next-generation leaders like Michael Morgan, Jason Taumalolo and Coen Hess have barely commanded the type of air time they should have as Scott's knee takes centre stage.

On his own coaching, Green says: "I came in as a rookie and you learn and evolve. You have to learn from your mistakes.

"And I wouldn't say I've got more [satisfaction out of this year] - when you win a comp that's hard to top - but this year has been a really, really satisfying year for different reasons. It's been a lot more challenging, not only for me but all my coaching staff. It's really tested us and brought out the best in us to be able to get the best out of the players."