After the first three rounds of the 2004 season, Cowboy supporters had little reason to smile.
Despite high expectations heading into the 2004 campaign, the Cowboys got off to a rocky 1-5 win to sit in 13th position on the Premiership ladder.
A strong backend of the season that saw the club win six of their final eight games saw the Cowboys finished in seventh for their first-ever finals appearance.
It was a tough road to success in 2004 with injuries again taking key players out of action, including Matt Sing who suffered a broken jaw in the State of Origin series and Glenn Morrison who suffered a broken back mid-season.
A sure sign of the growing stature of the Club was evident when new players were able to step up to the top squad from the Young Guns to cover such injuries.
Players like Shane Tronc and Steve Southern were fine examples of first grade debutantes who replaced injured players and went on to play significant roles in the Club's success of 2004.
The finals series proved to be of immense importance to the Club and the North Queensland community.
Not only did long term supporters have much to cheer about, but the Cowboys also captured the imagination of rugby league supporters throughout Australia with their charge into the final series.
In just three finals matches, the Cowboys tasted victories over eventual premiers the Bulldogs and the Brisbane Broncos, before losing narrowly to Sydney City.
In the process they stole the headlines of newspapers.
The semi-final against the Brisbane Broncos, played in front of a packed Dairy Farmers Stadium, gave the Cowboys a chance to thank their long-term supporters, as well as welcome many new ones!
After wild scenes at the Townsville Airport before and after the victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs, the Cowboys played at home against the Broncos, amid scenes of hysteria and adulation never experienced before as the region fully supported their team.
After defeating the Broncos, they travelled to Sydney to meet eventual grand finalists Sydney Roosters and came within seconds of winning a grand final berth.
Losing the preliminary final by just 16-19, the Cowboys had come of age in 2004.
Apart from going within a match of a grand final appearance, the club also maintained its proud record of producing representative players.
Significantly the 2004 Cowboys had a good away record, another sign of the growing success of the club.
Perhaps a lasting legacy of season 2004 is that the North Queensland Cowboys had fulfilled the belief held in them by long term supporters, plus they had given many rugby league supporters a reason to smile no matter what part of the country they were in, as the Cowboys were fast becoming many supporters' second team.
Season Statistics
- Captains: Travis Norton, Paul Bowman, Paul Rauhihi & Glenn Morrison
- Coach: Graham Murray
- Principal Sponsor: Toyota
- Wins: 12, Losses: 11, Draws: 1
- Points for: 582, Points against: 555
- Top point scorer: Josh Hannay (228)
- Finished: 7th
- Average home crowd: 16, 969
Representative Players/Coaches
- Matt Sing, Matthew Bowen, Travis Norton & Paul Bowman: Queensland State of Origin
- Glenn Morrison: New South Wales Country
- Matt Sing & Matthew Bowen: Australia
- Paul Rauhihi: New Zealand
- Graham Murray: Coach of New South Wales City
