• Brought up in Brisbane and Toowoomba, Johnathan Thurston will be the first life member to hail from outside North Queensland when he officially receives his North Queensland Cowboys life membership at the presentation function at the end of the season. “But I think of myself as a North Queenslander now,” JT said. “This is my 10th year here and I think I fit right in.” JT received his commemorative 200th game jersey from life members Paul Bowman, Barry Buchanan and Aaron Payne at the Cowboys’ pre-game lunch on Friday, while a video message from the fourth life member, Matty Bowen, was played at the function.
• Gavin Cooper’s hip injury probably cost him the chance to captain the Cowboys for the first time in an NRL match on Sunday. After leading North Queensland to victory in the NRL Auckland Nines, he was a prime contender to fill in for co-captains Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott who are on State of Origin duty – and, as a bonus, it would have been his 100th appearance for the Cowboys. That now has to wait until later in the season. Coops still managed to keep his sense of humour when he was lying in pain on the medicab after being brought from the field on Saturday, even managing to take a couple of selfies with his phone before heading off to hospital.
• Johnathan Thurston has surged to third place on the Dally M Medal standings after a man-of-the-match performance against the Roosters on Saturday night. He received the three points from judge Ben Ikin to move to 12 overall for 2014, three behind the leader, Parramatta’s Jarryd Hayne. In a Cowboys cleansweep, Michael Morgan received two votes and Brent Tate one.
• Our stats leaders from the big win against the Roosters were: most metres – Matt Scott (201m); most hit-ups – Matt Scott (23); most tackles – Matt Scott (27); most tackle breaks – Matt Wright and Brent Tate (4); most try assists – Johnathan Thurston (2); most linebreaks – Johnathan Thurston (2).
• NRL squad members Lachlan Coote and Patrick Kaufusi will head to Charters Towers and Palm Island for Cowboys Adopt-a-School visits this week. Lachlan will be at Richmond Hill State School, Millchester State School, All Souls St Gabriel’s School and Charters Towers Central State School on Wednesday, working with reading groups, talking about healthy living and the importance of attending school every day. On Thursday, Patrick and NYC squad member Sam Pau will visit Bwgcolman Community School and St Michaels Catholic School.
• The post-match award winners from Saturday night were: NRL player of the match – Johnathan Thurston; NRL play of the day – Kane Linnett; NYC player of the match and play of the day – Yamba Bowie.
• Three Cowboys – Kane Linnett, Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott – made NRL.com’s Team of the Week for round 10.
• An 18-point haul against the Roosters has lifted JT to second on the NRL point-scorers’ list for 2014. He now has 92 points for the season to trail Wests Tigers’ Pat Richards by only two points heading into the State of Origin period.
• It will be an afternoon of free-to-air North Queensland rugby league on Nine/WIN on Sunday. Not only will be the Cowboys v Raiders match be on air at 4pm, it follows the Intrust Super Cup clash between Mackay and Ipswich at 2pm.
• The leading bids in our Women in League jersey auction in support of the Salvation Army’s Grace Cottage already total more than $10,000. Thanks for the great support.
• Hezron Murgha was happy with his return to footy, nine months after ACL surgery, for the Northern Pride on Saturday evening. “It took me a while to get into the game but I felt comfortable,” he told the Cairns Post. “I didn’t hold back and that was good but I didn’t get too many chances. The last 10 or 15 minutes the knee started to fatigue a bit but that’s to be expected.”
• The under-18 and under-16 national finals played at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday will be shown on Fox Sports over the next few days, starting tomorrow. The telecast times are: under-18 final – Friday 4.30pm and Saturday 10.30am; and under-16 final – Wednesday at 4pm and Saturday at 9.30am.
• Winner of Saturday night's game day competition was Joyce Bolton – a $200 Tropic Petroleum fuel voucher is coming your way.
• Rory Kostjasyn will be in the Hot FM Townsville studios with Ashton Sims on Wednesday morning. You can hear them on the Cliffo and Tianna breakfast show after 8am.
