Three Cowboys yet to make their NYC debut for North Queensland have been included in coach Todd Payten’s starting team for the opening pre-season trial against the Mackay Cutters on Saturday evening.
The new faces are Junior Kiwis representative Braden Uele in the front-row, hooker Brandon Smith and winger Sam Smith, while their another five players – Cyrus Timo-Latu, Ross Bella, Taha Tutavake, Trey Kemp and Nick Brown – are on the bench in the 22-man lineup who have yet to play in the under-20s.
Uele came to the Cowboys from the Roosters at the end of last season and has spent time training with Paul Green’s NRL squad during the pre-season, while the two Smiths, who are unrelated, are in their second seasons with the NQ under-20s.
Sam hails from Gladstone Valleys and played in the Townsville Stingers’ national title-winning under-18 squad in 2014, while Brandon came to Townsville from New Zealand and has been playing for Centrals.
Saturday’s clash will be a return home for Bella, who has already played Intrust Super Cup matches for the Cutters.
Second-rower Kieran Quabba will captain the Cowboys and will be part of a strong forward pack that includes 18-year-old Coen Hess, who played for NQ in the NRL Auckland Nines at the weekend.
Saturday’s match will be played over four 20-minute quarters with unlimited interchange and will kick off at 4.30pm.
NYC Cowboys v Mackay Cutters TRIAL MATCH
4.30pm, Saturday 7 February, Stadium Mackay
1 Yamba Bowie
2 Sam Smith
3 Akeripa Tia Kilifi
4 Conor Carey
5 Scott Schulte
6 Ty Carucci
7 Cooper Bambling
8 Braden Uele
9 Brandon Smith
10 Viliame Kikau
11 Kieran Quabba (c)
12 Coen Hess
13 Andrew Niemoeller
Interchange:
14 Cyrus Timo-Latu
15 Jordan Kenworthy
16 David Munro
17 Ross Bella
18 Taha Tutavake
19 Rainer Power
20 Trey Kemp
21 Nick Brown
22 Delayne Ashby
