The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys under-20s team will go into their Round 9 NYC match against the Manly Sea Eagles as heavy favourites when the two sides clash at Brookvale Oval this afternoon.
Aaron Payne’s fourth-placed Cowboys have five wins from eight matches in 2016 and will field an unchanged team from the one named on Tuesday.
Back-rower Coen Hess will captain the team, which will be looking for back-to-back wins following a strong 54-12 win over fellow top-eight team Parramatta in Round 8.
Fullback Kalyn Ponga was a standout last match, scoring two tries and kicking seven goals for an individual points total of 22.
The winless Sea Eagles have had a tough start to their year, the 2015 NYC grand finalist looking to chalk up a first win of the season against the team they eliminated from last year’s finals series.
Today’s match kicks off at 5.15pm.
Cowboys NYC: 1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Nathan Traill 3. Bacho Salam 4. Trey Kemp 5. Marcus Jensen 6. Ty Carucci 7. Cooper Bambling 8. Darryn Schonig 9. Brandon Smith 10. Ross Bella 11. Coen Hess (c) 12. Hiale Roycroft 13. Jordan Kenworthy. Interchange: 14. Calum Gahan 15. Tahanui Tutavake 16. Nick Brown 17. Kaleb Fuimaono. Coach: Aaron Payne
