The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys have included their four State of Origin representatives in their starting team for the round 12 NRL clash with Melbourne Storm at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday night.
Co-captains Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott, James Tamou and Brent Tate missed the trip to Canberra at the weekend when the Cowboys had their three-game winning streak halted by the Raiders.
With the four Origin stars, who will play in the series opener in Brisbane on Wednesday night, named to return for their club, Ricky Thorby and Curtis Rona drop out of the squad of 17 that played against Canberra.
Scott Bolton will start at lock, replacing Tariq Sims who has been suspended for two matches after lodging an early guilty plea today on a grade two dangerous throw charge.
With Thurston back, Robert Lui reverts to the five-man interchange bench, while Jason Taumalolo has been named in the run-on pack, switching roles with Glenn Hall.
Saturday night’s match, the first between the Cowboys and Storm since round two last season, kicks off at 7.30pm.
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys v Melbourne Storm
Round 12, 2014 Telstra Premiership
7.30pm, Saturday 31 May, 1300SMILES Stadium
1 Michael Morgan
2 Matthew Wright
3 Brent Tate
4 Kane Linnett
5 Antonio Winterstein
6 Johnathan Thurston (c)
7 Ray Thompson
8 Matt Scott (c)
9 Rory Kostjasyn
10 James Tamou
11 Ethan Lowe
12 Jason Taumalolo
13 Scott Bolton
Interchange:
14 Robert Lui
15 Glenn Hall
16 Ashton Sims
17 Joel Riethmuller
18 Anthony Mitchell
Coach: Paul Green
