North Queensland Toyota Cowboys head coach Paul Green has declared he is weighing up multiple fullback options as the club prepares for its first taste of game action for 2019.
The Cowboys travel to the Sunshine Coast next Saturday to take on the Gold Coast Titans in their opening trial of the season, which will be followed by a second trial against the Melbourne Storm in Mackay on March 2.
Green said a disrupted training schedule caused by the recent flooding in North Queensland had presented a number of challenges, including deciding who will man the No.1 jersey to start the season, but with the side returning to regular training this week, the Cowboys coach was confident of coming to a decision quickly.
“We haven’t trained for two weeks, properly,” Green said.
“The timing has been really challenging, but there are a couple of guys that have played there before and there are also some guys there that have the skill to do a good job there that haven’t played there since junior footy.
“There are some options there and at this stage, we haven’t ruled anything out. We will need to change a few things up and we need to figure out pretty quickly who is going to be back there.”
The training disruptions have also caused Green to rethink his plans for both the Titans and Storm trials.
The Cowboys coach had originally hoped to blood a large number of rookies at the Sunshine Coast and save his veterans for the Storm trial, but concedes he is now contemplating unleashing some of his biggest stars against the Titans.
“Had we not have had the disruption or the two weeks where we were affected by the rain, I probably would have played a lot more rookies,” Green said.
“But I will get a gauge of how we are going and how quickly we can get back to where we were before the rain. Hopefully by the end of this week I’ll have a clearer picture of where we are as a team and as a club, but potentially there might be some guys with a bit more experience that will play (against the Titans).”
