The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys have entered into a landmark agreement with Far North Queensland Rugby League.
The agreement will see the Cowboys make a sizeable financial contribution to grassroots rugby league in FNQ, to the tune of more than $100,000 over the course of the 2026, 2027 and 2028 seasons.
The Cowboys will receive naming right to all FNQRL female pathways competitions, including senior women’s, under 17s girls, under 15s girls and under 13s girls.
FNQRL covers an enormous region in one of Australia’s great rugby league heartlands, beginning at Tully, home of current Cowboys five-eighth Jake Clifford and stretching as far north as Mossman.
Along with Clifford, current Cowboys NRL squad members Heilum Luki, Jeremiah Nanai and Robert Derby are all products of FNQRL clubs.
In total, 33 of the 334 players to don a Cowboys jersey are products of the FNQRL catchment area.
Further solidifying the Cowboys’ commitment to rugby league in FNQ, the club will employ a full-time staff member in Cairns via its pathways systems as well as the proposed construction of a Cowboys Leagues Club premises, which is currently in the development application stage.
The Cowboys are also in the final stages of securing funding for the proposed High Performance Centre at West Barlow Park, which would house the North Queensland NRLW side and the Northern Pride as well as office space to Allied Health and other community organisations.
This agreement follows similar recent pacts the Cowboys have entered into with both Mackay District Rugby League and Rugby League Townsville District, where there is a clear pathway from the earliest stages of rugby league, through to the semi-professional level with the Northern Pride, who are a key member of the Cowboys system as a feeder club, through to the NRL and NRLW with North Queensland.
“Our club is delighted to enter into a formal partnership with the FNQRL,” Cowboys Football Club CEO Micheal Luck said.
“The FNQRL catchment area has produced almost 10 per cent of the male players to wear a Cowboys jersey since we entered the competition 31 years ago, which is the most of any region.
“Far North Queensland is as passionate a rugby league community as anywhere in Australia and we are extremely lucky to have it as a vital area of our footprint.
“Just like our partnerships in Mackay and Townsville, this partnership solidifies the pathway from grassroots level in Far North Queensland to the Northern Pride through to NRL and NRLW with the Cowboys.”
FNQRL Chair Chey Bird said Far North Queensland was ‘Cowboys country’.
“As a rich rugby league heartland, the FNQRL gratefully welcomes the significant investment and partnership from North Queensland Cowboys, which further represents and formalises a major step forward in strengthening the connection between grassroots rugby league and the elite pathway across Far North Queensland,” he said.
“This partnership will create greater ability to attract participants, nurture development and grow performance, ensuring local players, coaches and communities have clearer opportunities to progress and thrive right here in the far north.
“This is Cowboys country and this arrangement ensures that we are able to promote that the way it should be.”
