Two-time premiership winner James Maloney has agreed to a two-year contract to join the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys as an assistant coach.
The 37-year-old will specialise in attack, working under Head Coach Todd Payten and alongside assistants Justin Morgan and Ben Rauter.
Maloney appeared in 247 NRL games over the course of a glittering 11-year career, which included premierships with the Roosters in 2013 and the Sharks in 2016. He registered a further 42 appearances with Catalans in the UK Super League across the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
He then moved into a player-coach role with Lezignan in the French Elite One competition culminating with his final professional game in a semi-final loss to Limoux in May of this year.
Maloney played alongside current Cowboys stars Chad Townsend and Valentine Holmes in Cronulla’s drought-breaking 2016 grand final victory.
The 2016 Dally M Five Eighth of the Year also spent time at the Storm, Warriors and Panthers over the course of his playing career.
Maloney registered 14 appearances for NSW and three for Australia.
“We are excited at the prospect of the new dimension James will add to our program,” Cowboys General Manager of Football Micheal Luck said.
“With an experienced assistant in Justin Morgan coming on board this year, we made the decision to target a younger coach with recent experience on the field to focus on our attack.
“We met with Jimmy in Townsville last week and we were impressed with how he presented and the ideas he had to improve our team.
“He will be an excellent sounding board for our spine, in particular our young halves in Tom Dearden, Tom Duffy and Jake Clifford.”
