Retiring veterans fire up Cowboys
September 4, 2007 - 6:26PM
They may deny they are a two-man team, but the North Queensland Cowboys are concentrating on one duo as they plan their NRL finals assault - retiring veterans Paul Bowman and Jason Smith.
The Cowboys laughed off Bulldogs forward Willie Mason's claim last week that North Queensland would be nothing without skipper Johnathan Thurston and livewire Matt Bowen.
But North Queensland's thoughts are preoccupied by another pair - Bowman and Smith - before their re-match against the Bulldogs in their NRL qualifying final at Townsville on Saturday night.
The Cowboys have broken rugby league's unwritten law and made it abundantly clear they will be vying for premiership glory to send foundation player Bowman and former Test utility Smith out winners.
Thurston and Bowen knocked back the chance to rest in order to run out for Bowman's 200th game last Friday against the Bulldogs.
Bowman - the last Cowboys player standing since the club's 1995 inception - is held in such high regard that North Queensland's best and fairest medal will be renamed in his honour from this year.
"Bear (Bowman) has been the heart and soul of the Cowboys for many years, he's been there from the start," Cowboys winger Ty Williams said.
"If you want to win something you would want to win it for him. He's a special man, not only to the team but to North Queensland in general."
At 35, Smith is the oldest player running around in the 2007 NRL competition and will draw the curtain on a career that began way back in 1990 after the finals.
"It would be awesome if we could send them off on the best note being a grand final win," Cowboys strike weapon Ash Graham said.
"With those two nearing retirement, every game you can run out with them is an awesome feeling."
The Cowboys were more amused than anything by Mason's taunt last week and would not be surprised if the Test forward's tongue began wagging again before their finals showdown.
"Look, he's always good to say something. He's always got something to say," laughed Williams, a member of the Cowboys' surge to the 2005 grand final.
"But it really doesn't effect us. I think the supporters gave him more than we did (last Friday)."
Graham expected the crowd to be a major factor on Saturday night - and no wonder.
Supporters camped out overnight to queue for tickets that went on sale to the public on Tuesday, with one elderly couple sleeping in their vehicle at Dairy Farmers Stadium car park to ensure they attended the NRL qualifying final.
More than 20,000 tickets were snapped up on Tuesday with just over 5,000 left for the big game.
"We have awesome crowd support, I'm sure it's a daunting feeling for the opposition," said Graham, who moved from the Eels to North Queensland last season.
"There's people camping out for tickets, there's a real buzz around the place - I haven't seen anything like it before."
With the euphoria already building up in Townsville, it will be hard for the Cowboys to continue flying "under the radar".
Despite the Cowboys finishing the regular season outright third, North Queensland boss Peter Parr still believes no one took much notice of their progress thanks to the heroics of former easybeats South Sydney.
"We flew under the radar a bit. It might have been due to the euphoria over Souths make the first time in a long time," Parr said.
Cowboys coach Graham Murray has named an 18-man squad with Neil Sweeney added to the team that ran out 38-32 winners over the Bulldogs.
? 2007 AAP