Cowboys INSIDER

• With Johnathan Thurston no longer having to fear the dreaded nudie run after scoring his first try of the season at the weekend, the attention turns to a couple of other NRL regulars who haven’t crossed the stripe so far this year. Hooker Aaron Payne is tryless despite featuring in all 19 matches in 2012, while Ricky Thorby is still awaiting his first try as a Cowboy after making his debut 17 games ago.

• The Cowboys have sent their congratulations to Aussie swimmer Alicia Coutts who has already won gold and bronze at the London Olympic Games. Alicia is a big Cowboys fan and visited the team when she was in Townsville for a training camp earlier this year. Still waiting to hit the pool is another keen Cowboys supporter, Chris Wright, whose girlfriend is Melanie Schlanger who was also part of the gold medal 4x100m freestyle relay squad.

• Tyson Martin and game development manager Ryan Mahoney are back home after spending five days in central west Queensland last week as part of a development tour. They saw around 800 kids on their trip and had a fitness session with the Ilfracombe Scorpions A-grade team. They also teamed up with former Test and Origin prop Steve Price for a session in Blackall.

• The Cowboys’ official Twitter account @nthqldcowboys has crashed through the 7,000 followers mark. It has all the latest news on the Cowboys plus regular score updates and news on game day >>> www.twitter.com/nthqldcowboys.

• NYC fullback Zac Santo is rapidly closing in on the club record for most tries in a Toyota Cup season. The Charter Towers product’s hat-trick in the win against Canterbury took his season total to 18, six behind the record Michael Parker-Walshe set last year. Santo has remarkably scored three hat-tricks this season and his under-20s career total now stands at 35 tries in 42 games. Look out for a feature on him in this week’s Go Cowboys liftout in the Townsville Bulletin.

• The Cowboys’ avid golfers will hit the course for the Centrebet Golf Day at The Willows on Thursday – aside from being a great day out with sponsors and corporate members, it will give co-captain Matthew Scott a chance to try out his new set of specially fitted clubs.

• Former Ignatius Park College students Michael Morgan and Anthony Mitchell have been closely following their old school’s progress in the GIO National Schoolboys Competition. They were both at Jack Manski Oval at Brothers last Wednesday to watch Iggy Park eliminate Palm Beach-Currumbin at the state semi-final stage and hope to catch some of the action when the Townsville school faces Keebra Park in the Queensland final at Dairy Farmers on Saturday afternoon. The match kicks off at 4pm.

• Gavin Cooper will catch up with flamboyant winger Kalifa Faifai Loa for this week’s WIN Locker Room segment. You can see what they got up to on Wednesday night’s news.

• There was a spectacular end to the Cowboys’ game day cricket in Sydney on Sunday. The Youngies team looked set for a very rare win when the Oldies’ batting line-up, without usual mainstays Ashley Graham and high performance manager Paul Bowman, struggled early on. It was only a great last-wicket stand from assistant coach Terry Matterson, who hit a six to win, and Aaron Payne that saved their side.

• Injured prop Luke Harlen will head west on Thursday to spend a day with youngsters in Charters Towers and Woodstock as part of the Cowboys Adopt-a-School program, sponsored by Stockland.

• Centrebet now has the Cowboys listed as $9 chances for the NRL premiership. We’re sixth in the betting behind Canterbury ($4), Souths ($5), Melbourne ($6.50), Manly ($7) and Brisbane ($8.50).

• Don’t forget that tickets for the October Test between Australia and New Zealand are now on sale to the general public through Ticketek. We could see up to four Cowboys in action.