The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys today confirmed the signings of Tom Opacic, Dan Russell and Kurt Baptiste for the 2019 season.
Opacic, a 183cm/100kg centre, joins the club on a two-year deal for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The 24-year-old debuted for the Brisbane Broncos in 2016 and has played 19 NRL games, including 10 in 2018.
Russell also joins the club on a two-year deal after an impressive stint with the Souths Logan Magpies in the Queensland Cup.
The 22-year-old centre adds further outside back depth after the departure of long-time Cowboys Antonio Winterstein and Kane Linnett.
Experienced hooker Baptiste has signed a one-year deal for the 2019 season.
The 27-year-old has played 70 NRL games for the Broncos, Raiders and Roosters.
Meanwhile long-time Cowboys product Javid Bowen has signed a one-year contract extension to remain at the club.
The 25-year-old, who grew up in Cooktown in far North Queensland, was an under 20s star for the Cowboys and has played 29 NRL games since debuting in 2016, scoring eight tries.
"Tom Opacic, Dan Russell and Javid Bowen give us much needed depth in the outside backs and complement the previous signings of Ben Barba and Nene Macdonald," Cowboys Director of Football Peter Parr said.
"We are delighted to secure the services of Kurt Baptiste as we believed we needed a genuine hooker to work in tandem with Jake Granville.
"Kurt's form during his tenure at Canberra was excellent and I thought he was impressive this year for the Roosters in limited opportunities."
