WELL DONE KANE-O: No-nonsense Cowboys centre Kane Linnett reaches a career milestone of 150 NRL games in tonight's Round 3 match against Manly. Linnett, 28, debuted for the Roosters in 2010, playing 23 games for the Chooks over two seasons, the highlight being a grand final appearance in his rookie year. Largely a centre, Linnett, has played just three NRL games on the wing in his career, the second of those as a Rooster against his future club, the Cowboys. He's been a consistent member of the Cowboys NRL team, playing at least 22 games a season for the past five years. He's scored 52 career tries, 48 as a Cowboy, including a hat-trick in 2014 against his old team, the Roosters.
FAIR HEARING: Lock Jason Taumalolo's guilty finding at the NRL Judiciary ends a succession of successful challenges to charges for Cowboys players, with Matt Scott, Lachlan Coote and Jake Granville all found not guilty at the panel last year. Cowboys head coach Paul Green told the media this week that they never contest a charge they genuinely believe they can successfully defend, and are always respectful of the judicial process. While disappointed with the Taumalolo verdict, Green said they felt the club had been given a fair hearing, before attention quickly turned to best preparing for the Manly match minus their regular No.13.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Cowboy Braden Uele will be plying his trade for the Mackay Cutters against the Townsville Blackhawks on Saturday at Townsville's Jack Manski Oval – it's the only time this year that Uele will play a true ‘home’ game, despite it being a Cutters ‘away’ game. With Cowboys squad members aligned with the Cutters and Northern Pride (Cairns) travelling at least 400km each weekend to train and play for their teams, it's a rare respite from travel for Uele. He comes up against Corey Jensen, the Cowboys' lone representative in the Blackhawks this weekend. The Cowboys’ Pride contingent – which includes Patrick Mago, Marcus Jensen, Ben Spina and Gideon Gela-Mosby – play the Blackhawks in Townsville in Round 19.
HOWDY PARTNER: LGIAsuper's Howdy Club has a passionate member base, with 1300SMILES Stadium alive with Howdy Club flags for the first home game against the Raiders. The popular program, based at LGIASuper Community Hub at home games, is back today and returning Howdy Club members can scan their card to watch the action through Cowboys five-eighth Michael Morgan's eyes with an exclusive 'Go Morgo' face mask. The ubiquitous yellow Howdy Hats are also available for new Howdy Club members who sign up today from gates open to NRL kick off in the Western forecourt at 1300SMILES Stadium.
GLAMOROUS SIDE TO FOOTY: Cowboys Spirit cheerleaders turned it on for the camera in an exclusive photo shoot for their annual team poster, produced in-house by the club's talented creative team. With Ribs and Rumps as the Spirit's sponsor, R&R's mascot Impy makes it into the collector's piece for the first time. The girls will be proudly handing out their posters at the gates tonight, but be quick as numbers are limited.
GET SNAPPIC: If you haven't made it down to Captains' Corner on game day, do yourself a favour and head over to the interactive fun zone in the north-east corner, just inside the northern gate. The latest addition to the range of amusements is the fan photo booth that lets you take your gifs and pics on the green screen and share on social.
