John Bateman and Tom Dearden are set to mark major milestones on Sunday afternoon when the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys meet the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Sharks Stadium.
Bateman will celebrate his 300th top-flight game across the UK Super League and NRL.
The 31-year-old debuted as a 17-year-old for Bradford in 2011 and would go in to register 219 Super League games, including 35 for Bradford, 174 for Wigan and 10 for Warrington. He has appeared in 80 NRL games, including 34 for Canberra, 32 for the Wests Tigers and 14 to date for the Cowboys.
Dearden is set to become the fourth youngest player in club history and 34th in total to appear in 100 games for the Cowboys.
At 24 years and 142 days come Sunday, Dearden trails only Jason Taumalolo (23y 13d), Matthew Bowen (23y 158d) and Josh Hannay (24y 111d) as the youngest player to appear in a century of games for the club.
Twenty-two-year-old middle forward Emarly Bitungane will become Cowboy No.327 after being named to make his NRL debut on Sunday afternoon.
Born in Tanzania to Burundian parents, Bitungane moved to Australia in 2007. He has registered 44 appearances at Queensland Cup level, including 16 for the Northern Pride this season where he has averaged 108 running metres.
Jake Clifford has been named to return from a quad injury at five-eighth, replacing Tom Duffy who re-injured his quad in Friday’s win over the Dragons.
Sunday’s game kicks off at 4.05pm
Cowboys team to play Sharks:
2. Robert Derby
3. Jaxon Purdue
4. Zac Laybutt
7. Tom Dearden (c)
9. Reece Robson
10. Griffin Neame
11. John Bateman
12. Jeremiah Nanai
13. Reuben Cotter (c)
Interchange
14. Emarly Bitungane
15. Kaiden Lahrs
16. Kai O’Donnell
17. Coen Hess
Reserves
18. Jaxson Paulo
19. Nic Lenaz
20. Mason Kira
21. Jamal Shibasaki
22. Dane Aukafola
