The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys will return to switching hookers in tonight’s Round 9 NRL match against the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval.
Searching for five wins on the trot, the Cowboys have enjoyed stability in their playing ranks so far in 2016, using just 19 players across the eight matches so far.
Tonight – as has been the case for several games this year – Rory Kostjasyn will start at hooker, with Jake Granville coming off the interchange bench.
Granville has started the past two matches, but head coach Paul Green has this week continued with his “horses for courses” policy when it comes to how he uses his hookers with the number of interchanges reduced to eight in 2016.
Patrick Kaufusi has retained his place on the interchange bench for the third straight week, the young forward enjoying arguably the best game of his fledgling NRL career against the Eels in that 32-16 win.
The game kicks off at 7.30pm.
Cowboys: 1 Lachlan Coote, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Justin O’Neill, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Michael Morgan, 7 Johnathan Thurston (c), 8 Matt Scott (c), 14 Rory Kostjasyn, 10 James Tamou, 11 Gavin Cooper, 12 Ethan Lowe, 13 Jason Taumalolo. Interchange: 9 Jake Granville, 15 Patrick Kaufusi, 16 Scott Bolton, 17 Ben Hannant. Coach: Paul Green.
