Seven of the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys’ new faces in their 2014 NRL squad have been selected to play in the opening pre-season trial against the Brisbane Broncos at Redcliffe on Saturday night.
With only two full-scale trials before the round one clash with Canberra at 1300SMILES Stadium on 8 March, head coach Paul Green has named a strong 22-man lineup that features a host of NRL regulars.
Lachlan Coote will wear the Cowboys’ No.1 jersey for the first time and rookie forward John Asiata will start at lock, while fellow newcomers to North Queensland, Cameron King and Matthew Wright, are on the nine-man interchange bench.
The squad also includes NYC graduates Javid Bowen and Zac Santo; front-rower Patrick Kaufusi who is still eligible for the under-20s; and five-eighth Doug Hewitt, who has signed with the Mackay Cutters in the Intrust Super Cup but has spent the pre-season with the Cowboys on a train and trial contract.
A strong starting forward pack features Scott Bolton and Ashton Sims in the front-row with Anthony Mitchell at hooker and Jason Taumalolo partnering with Tariq Sims in the back-row.
There’s plenty of experience on the bench thanks to the inclusion of Glenn Hall, Rory Kostjasyn and Ricky Thorby, along with Wright who joined the Cowboys today after a 62-match career with the Cronulla Sharks.
North Queensland’s four Kangaroos representatives have not been named after only resuming training a month ago.
Saturday’s match at Dolphin Oval kicks off at 7.15pm.
COWBOYS SQUAD: 1 Lachlan Coote, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Javid Bowen, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Curtis Rona, 6 Doug Hewitt, 7 Robert Lui, 8 Scott Bolton, 9 Anthony Mitchell, 10 Ashton Sims, 11 Jason Taumalolo, 12 Tariq Sims, 13 John Asiata. Interchange: 14 Zac Santo, 15 Rory Kostjasyn, 16 Ricky Thorby, 17 Glenn Hall, 18 Sam Hoare, 19 Cameron King, 20 Ethan Lowe, 21 Matthew Wright, 22 Patrick Kaufusi.
