Toyota Cowboys co-captain Matt Scott will play his first NRL club game since round 13 when he returns to the North Queensland lineup for the Queensland derby against the Gold Coast Titans at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday night.
Scott, who turns 29 tomorrow, has been recovering from a fractured cheekbone sustained playing for Queensland in State of Origin Game II in Sydney and has missed the Cowboys’ last five matches.
His return to the run-on team pushes Ashton Sims back to a five-man interchange bench that will be reduced to four later in the week.
In a positional change to the team that downed Canterbury on Saturday night, Matthew Wright has been named in the centres, switching roles with Tautau Moga, who will start on the wing.
Saturday night’s match, which kicks off at 5.30pm, will be fullback Michael Morgan’s 50th in the NRL.
Now in seventh place on the ladder after back-to-back away victories, the Cowboys will hold an open training session for their members and supporters at 1300SMILES Stadium on Wednesday afternoon from 3.30pm-4.30pm.
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys v Gold Coast Titans
Round 21, 2014 Telstra Premiership
5.30pm, Saturday 2 August, 1300SMILES Stadium
1 Michael Morgan
2 Tautau Moga
3 Matthew Wright
4 Kane Linnett
5 Antonio Winterstein
6 Robert Lui
7 Johnathan Thurston (c)
8 Matt Scott (c)
9 Rory Kostjasyn
10 James Tamou
11 Tariq Sims
12 Jason Taumalolo
13 Glenn Hall
Interchange:
14 Ray Thompson
15 Scott Bolton
16 Ashton Sims
17 John Asiata
18 Sam Hoare
NORTHERN PRIDE: Ethan Lowe, Hezron Murgha, Ricky Thorby, Kyle Feldt, Javid Bowen, Ben Spina
MACKAY CUTTERS: Curtis Rona, Zac Santo, Anthony Mitchell
INJURED: Brent Tate, Gavin Cooper, Joel Riethmuller, Lachlan Coote, Cameron King
