The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys have elevated six players from its Young Guns and Academy programs to full-time status to train alongside the NRL team for the 2025 season.
Forward Mason Kira and half Zac Herdegen have been promoted to Development List contracts, while Xavier Kerrisk, Mutua Brown, Jeremiah Mata’utia and Henry Teutau will spend the season on Train and Replacement contracts.
An aggressive forward who can play both middle and edge, Kira began 2024 with the Northern Pride Mal Meninga Cup team, before graduating to five Queensland Cup games, including two finals at the back end of the season. Kira also started at lock for the Queensland Under 19s in their mid-season clash against NSW in June.
Herdegen is in the process of completing Year 12 at Wavell State High in Brisbane. The 2024 Queensland Schoolboys half comes to the Cowboys from The Dolphins system after starring in the Mal Meninga Cup this season.
Kerrisk has long been touted as one of Queensland’s premier emerging dummy halves after starring at schoolboy level for St Patrick’s Mackay alongside Jaxon Purdue. Kerrisk followed much the same path as Kira in 2024, beginning in Mackay’s Mal Meninga Cup team, before making his Queensland Cup debut in Round 13 and would go on to make 10 appearances.
Brown was touted as the top schoolboy talent in Australia after starring at Nationals in 2023. The Cairns product was named Australian Schoolboys fullback before graduating to the Cowboys Young Guns program in 2024. Blessed with electrifying speed, Brown spent much of 2024 plying his trade for the Cutters in the Mal Meninga Cup before securing a Queensland Cup debut late in the season.
A towering middle forward, Mata’utia was also a schoolboy star coming through Townsville’s Kirwan State High School. The 20-year-old, 198cm man-mountain has made 11 Queensland Cup appearances over the past two seasons, including eight for the Cutters in 2024.
Teutau came through Townsville’s Ignatius Park College before graduating to the Cowboys Young Guns in 2023. A powerfully built middle forward, Teutau has made eight appearances in the Queensland Cup, including three for the Northern Pride in 2024. He was also named a Cowboys Way Award winner at the club’s presentation night in September alongside Jake Granville and Alisha Foord.
