• Ashton Sims has opted for the Leukaemia Foundation’s blue colour when he dyes his hair as part of the World’s Greatest Shave next week. You can still donate to Ashton, Ant Mitchell, James Tamou, Rory Kostjasyn, Joel Riethmuller and Tropic Petroleum's CEO Jamie Regan by going to worldsgreatestshave.com. Ant, Rory, Joel and Jamie will be shaving their heads, while James will lose his beard.
• Here are our stats leaders from Saturday night’s NRL win against the Raiders, thanks to NRL Stats. Most metres: Jason Taumalolo (226 metres from 19 hit-ups); Most tackles: Ray Thompson (35); Most tackle breaks: Jason Taumalolo (7); Most linebreaks: Jason Taumalolo (2); Most offloads: Brent Tate and Johnathan Thurston (2); Most try assists: Johnathan Thurston (2).
• Cameron King is surprised at his try-scoring start to the new Intrust Super Cup season. Yet to post a try in his 11 NRL games so far, the hooker has bagged three in two games for the Northern Pride. Both of his four-pointers against the Capras on Saturday night came from dummy-half when he feigned to pass one way and went on his own to the line.
• Our stadium has had some spectacular game day sunsets in recent seasons but none better than what we saw on Saturday night. Just after half time in the NYC game, the high cloud became a sheetmetal grey colour before turning an eye-catching shade of pink that was snapped by many avid photographers in the crowd. [Photo: Nico Poorta]
• Not only does Paul Green have a 1-0 win record against Ricky Stuart in their NRL coaching battles, he also boasts a win against the Raiders coach in their last contest as players. It was back in round seven of the 2000 season when Green was at halfback for North Queensland and Stuart was in his final season with the Bulldogs. The Cowboys won 18-8 thanks to two tries from Tim Brasher and one from Paul Bowman but ended the year with the wooden-spoon.
• The player awards for Saturday night’s season opener went to Johnathan Thurston (NRL player of the match), Michael Morgan (NRL play of the day for his chase of a runaway Reece Robinson), Alex Grant (NYC player of the match) and Dan Clarke (NYC play of the day for his two tries). The awards for each home match are presented at the Cowboys Leagues Club's official post-match function a couple of hours after full time in the NRL game.
• NRL squad member Ethan Lowe showed his versatility in Saturday’s night Intrust Super Cup clash between the Northern Pride and CQ Capras. With his team hit by injuries, the 23-year-old had to fill in as a centre after starting in the back-row. He played the full 80 minutes in his team’s second win in a row to start the year.
• One Cowboys off-field staff member might like to do a little more preparation before his next fishing trip. He went to head offshore but only managed to travel around 100 metres before running out of petrol...
• Robert Lui will test his trickshot skills in this week’s Locker Room segment on WIN News. Tune in to Wednesday night’s bulletin from 7pm to see how he went.
• We hear this week’s Rugby League Week will have plenty of Cowboys content including a look at coach Paul Green’s early success with the club. It’s available in newsagents from Thursday.
• Congratulations to Edward Ring, winner of our game day competition and a $200 Ribs & Rumps voucher – entry forms inside the northern gate each game day.
• No Cowboys were on the match review charge sheets following the weekend’s tussles with the Raiders. However Canberra’s Mitchell Barnett faces a minimum two weeks on the sidelines after being charged with a dangerous throw on NQ forward David Munro early in the NYC contest.
• Some NYC Cowboys figured prominently in the Townsville Stingers’ 52-10 win against Toowoomba in the Mal Meninga Cup on Saturday. Playing their first match of the season, the Stingers scored 11 tries to two with Cooper Bambling collecting a double. Jesse Pomare-Anderson and Coen Hess were also among the scorers.
