• Johnathan Thurston has stepped in to help a young NRL fan who was the victim of a stealing incident at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. As he does each week, JT presented his match-worn headgear to a youngster in the crowd after the disappointing loss to Brisbane. Within moments, young Jack Ryan from Rothwell, who is a big fan of all three Queensland NRL clubs, had his new prized possession grabbed from him by a much older woman. “I just heard that the lady took my headgear off you which is pretty sad, so I’m going to get your details Jack and send you down another one if that’s okay?” JT told Jack during a B105 interview on Monday morning. The nine-year-old, who was quick to point out he loved JT’s laugh, was thrilled to get the chance to chat with his idol and receive some new headgear, this time emblazoned with JT’s autograph. The radio station also arranged for him to receive Cowboys and Broncos jerseys.
• Our World’s Greatest Shave participants are only a couple of days away from their big moment at the Leukaemia Foundation’s office in Townsville on Wednesday morning. You can add to their fundraising tally by going to http://bit.ly/1eTQJgS.
• The Cowboys’ three biggest Townsville Fire fans were special guests at the WNBL club’s presentation night on Saturday night. Glenn Hall and Ashton Sims have been regulars at the Fire’s home games this year, while Johnathan Thurston helped out with some motivational talks during their recent finals series, as well as attending training and matches at RSL Stadium. All three spoke on stage at the presentation dinner, highlighting the close links between the clubs, praising how well the team had done in reaching back-to-back grand finals and saying how highly they thought of the Fire players as role models for young girls in the region.
• The Cowboys’ away clash with Manly on Good Friday has been relocated from Brookvale Oval to Central Coast Stadium in Gosford. The round seven match will be televised by Channel Nine/WIN and will kick off at 7.40pm. North Queensland beat Canterbury in their previous visit to Gosford, in round one last season.
• Here are the Cowboys’ stats leaders from Friday night’s loss to Brisbane: most metres – Jason Taumalolo (139m); most hit-ups – James Tamou (16); most tackles – Gavin Cooper (41); most tackle busts – Tariq Sims and Jason Taumalolo (6); most linebreaks – Tariq Sims and Johnathan Thurston (1).
• The Cowboys’ NYC Fijian, Viliame Kikau, met one of his idols, Petero Civoniceva, in Brisbane prior to the round two clash with the Broncos. Petero, who played in the recent Rugby League World Cup for Fiji, is a hero in his home country and Viliame, who is in his first year with the Cowboys, loved the chance to have a chat to him about his footy and life away from the game.
• The first Cowboys Schoolgirl Challenge to be held in Mackay has attracted 16 teams. It will run on Friday, 9.30am-2.30pm, with Cowboys game development manager Ryan Mahoney and game development officer Aaron Payne attending.
• Ethan Lowe will join Ashton Sims on the Hot FM Breakfast Show with Cliffo and Tianna this week, while it’s Kane Linnett’s turn to take on the Trickshot Challenge in the WIN News Locker Room segment that airs in Wednesday night’s bulletin.
• Cowboys NYC squad member Cooper Bambling had a personal haul of 18 points in the Townsville Stingers’ 60-12 win against Northern Pride in the Mal Meninga Cup at the weekend. The five-eighth scored a try and kicked seven goals as the Stingers remained unbeaten in Pool B of the under-18s competition. Fellow NYC Cowboys Sam Smith, Nick Brown, Regan Grieve and Coen Hess were also on the scoresheet.
• Remember, there’s free WiFi now available in our members-only bar Bluey’s for all home games. Just another benefit of joining the Stampede as a Cowboys member.
• What are co-captains JT and Matt Scott up to in our cover pic? Find out in our new NRL half-time segment this Saturday night @ Cowboys v Warriors…
