Trial Match 2011: COWBOYS vs TITANS in Cairns

[DIEHARD]

COWBOYS vs TITANS

26 February 2011 - Barlow Park, Cairns

1 Shannon Walker
2 Kevin Gordon
3 Steve Michaels
4 Clinton Toopi
5 David Mead
6 Greg Bird
7 Scott Prince
8 Luke Bailey
9 Riley Brown
10 Matthew White
11 Sam Tagataese
12 Bodene Thompson
13 Ashley Harrison

Interchange:
14 Michael Henderson
15 Ben Ridge
16 Will Matthews
17 Preston Campbell
18 Ryan James
19 Joseph Tomane
20 Luke Capewell
21 Kayne Lawton

Cowboys: Matthew Bowen, Ash Graham, Will Tupou, Willie Tonga, Michael Bani, Ray Thompson, Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott, Aaron Payne, James Tamou, Scott Bolton, Glenn Hall, Dallas Johnson. Interchange: Moses Pangai, Ben Jones, Ashton Sims, Ricky Thorby, Leeson Ah Mau, Tariq Sims.

Please Note: This game was originally scheduled for Mackay but unfortunately work on their stadium is behind schedule due to rain. So the game will now be played in Cairns

[Beachbub23]

Anyone know the date for this?
Wouldnt mund heading up if there is cheap enough flights!!
anyone else thinking of heading up?

[Cowboy Titan Pete]

Another article on the Mackay stadium

New stadium nearly finished

-------------------
Being on the Gold Coast and being a Cowboy fan plus a regular season ticket holder with the Titans along with all my family I was interested in the original post by Diehard.

Strangely though, that second link he posted originally had a date of February 2010 regarding the Mackay Stadium. Now, about a week later it has an October 2010 date referring to the finishing of the Stadium.

The article has certainly changed and it had confused me as to were they talking about a trial that was last years or was it about one to be held in 2011.
The guys on the Cowboys Stampede Forum don't appear to know anything about it. In fact there appears to be more interest from here. I have been trying to get confirmation that the game is actually scheduled as at this stage for me it is a " hold the phone" game until I receive official confirmation.

I hope you guys might be better informed and apoligies to Diehard I do not want you to run with the assumption that it will hapen until you have confirmation.

If it is on, a few members of our family may head up there, both Cowboy and Titan family members. We have extended family in Mackay so can kill two birds with the one game. ( That family are also split Cowboys / Titans )

If you can confirm that the match is on great.

Pete

[Cowboy Titan Pete]

I have just seen reported on another site that the Daily Telegraph have today reported several of the trial matches scheduled for 2011.

It appears the Cowboys -- Titans game is listed for Saturday the 26th February 2011 at the new Mackay RL Stadium.

Pete

ps. So Diehard was correct in his original post. Sorry for the doubts.

Pete

[Airlie Beach Titan]

I'm all over this like stains on a matress.. I'm only 45 minutes away from Mackay where as I'd have to drive 3-4 hours to see them play in townsville..

[DIEHARD]

Cowboys-Titans trial moved to Cairns



MACKAY'S loss appears to be Cairns' gain, with the North Queensland Cowboys almost certain to move their NRL trial against the Gold Coast Titans to Barlow Park on February 26.

The game was to be played at Mackay’s new football stadium, but constant wet weather means the ground’s newly laid surface will not be ready in time.

Cowboys football general manager Peter Parr said a new venue had to be secured quickly and that Barlow Park was a strong favourite.

"They have a proven track record up there and the games we’ve had there in the past have been wonderful on all fronts," he said. "We’ve played every year up there since 2003 and the games have always been well supported.

"It’s looking very positive."

Barlow Park was to host a match between a Cowboys composite side and the Wests Tigers on February 12, but that game will likely be moved to another venue if the Titans trial goes ahead. Queensland Rugby League northern administrator Pat Bailey, who will meet Parr face-to-face later this week, said Cairns was ready to step up and fill the void.

"Mackay have been so unlucky. ‘We were quite happy to sit back and let them have the game to open their new stadium with," she said.

"What it does mean is that they will definitely get the main game next year and we’ll have the composite game.

"But we’re quite chuffed to get the Titans. They’re a very popular team."

The Titans played a trial against the Cowboys at Barlow Park in 2008 and attracted a capacity crowd of 12,000 people.

Bailey, who is also the special events co-ordinator for the Cairns District Rugby League, said a lot of work went into hosting a trial.

"We try to do in Cairns what they do in Townsville," she said.

"We put on the entertainment, we bring up the Cowgirls cheerleaders and try and give it the same
atmosphere.

"I think it needs to be said that these things don’t just get handed to us. We have to pay for the teams’ airfares and accommodation to bring them up here.

"We take the risk with things like the weather, but we’re happy to do that.

"With sports tourism, anything we can do to help the city we will and we think people will support that."

http://www.cairns.com.au/

[DIEHARD]

OK so who wants a beautiful summer trip to Cairns North QLD? For some sun, fun, swimming and Titans glory?

I know I do!

[DIEHARD]

Ok Titans fans, this is the next game up. It'll be our last trial before Round 1.

I think we will see another strong performance. I think we will have it over the Cowboys.

[DIEHARD]

Cowboys hit with injuries after NRL trial

Justin Hodges made a successful return to action, but former Broncos team mate Antonio Winterstein is set to miss the start of the NRL season after suffering a broken jaw.

Hodges set up a try with his first touch off the bench in the Broncos' 26-4 trial win over the Cowboys in Alice Springs on Saturday night.

"He got through a continuous 40 minutes and set up a try and there was no side affects from the injury, so I'm very happy with his involvement and getting through the game," Broncos coach Ivan Henjak told AAP.

It ended more than 500 days of NRL inactivity for the classy Broncos, Queensland and Australia centre, but Cowboys recruit Winterstein had far worse misfortune on the night.

He went to hospital for scans just before halftime after suffering facial injuries in a sickening collision during a tackle.

"Unfortunately it looks like Antonio has a broken jaw, he's gone off for x-rays, which is really disappointing for him and for the club," coach Neil Henry said.

"That'd be six to eight weeks for him I'd imagine, so that's the prognosis at the moment."

The Cowboys' injury woes didn't end with Winterstein, as Gavin Cooper is also expected to be sidelined for a few weeks with a knee injury while Clint Amos has a broken nose.

South Sydney also suffered an injury setback with forward Ben Lowe helped off the ground after during their 42-4 loss to Gold Coast in Coffs Harbour on Saturday.

Henjak wasn't getting carried away with the Broncos start and stressed they still had improvement to come and several key players to return.

"Benny Hannant wasn't there tonight, Sam Thaiday, Darren Lockyer Jharel Yow Yeh, Mitchell Dodds, Nick Kenny, Denan Kemp, they are all possible starters for us," Henjak said.

"Getting through the trial games without any injuries, being able to work on things that we've focused on in pre-season has been good and there's big signs of improvement there, but the real test will come when we have to play for two competition points."

Penrith and Newcastle didn't report any major injuries from the Panthers' 28-22 win over the Knights at Port Macquarie, although the match review panel may look at an incident in which Penrith's Travis Burns collected the legs of Newcastle fullback Shannon McDonnell while he was in the air catching a high kick.

There were no significant casualties from Melbourne's comfortable 24-4 win over Canberra, with both sides ready to welcome back some big stars for their final trial matches next weekend.

Canberra are likely to give new recruit Matt Orford (knee) another week off to ensure he is ready for their season-opener against Cronulla, but they are expected to bring back Josh Dugan, Joel Thompson (rib injury), Alan Tongue (rib injury) and Tom Learoyd-Lars (suspension) for their clash with Canterbury.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said he planned to add skipper Cameron Smith and halfback Cooper Cronk, although fullback Billy Slater is still struggling with a shoulder injury and remains a concern for their round one matchup for Manly.

Source: http://www.nrl.com

[Boofhead]

Gold Coast Titans v Cowboys at Barlow Park, Cairns.

1 Shannon Walker
2 Kevin Gordon
3 Steve Michaels
4 Clinton Toopi
5 David Mead
6 Greg Bird
7 Scott Prince
8 Luke Bailey
9 Riley Brown
10 Matthew White
11 Sam Tagataese
12 Bodene Thompson
13 Ashley Harrison

Interchange:
14 Michael Henderson
15 Ben Ridge
16 Will Matthews
17 Preston Campbell
18 Ryan James
19 Joseph Tomane
20 Luke Capewell
21 Kayne Lawton

Titans

[Boofhead]

Does anyone know the extent of Zillmans injury? Just resting him up for round one hopefully...

No Srama but the inclusion of Lawton is another interesting one.

[Boofhead]

Cowboys: Matthew Bowen, Ash Graham, Will Tupou, Willie Tonga, Michael Bani, Ray Thompson, Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott, Aaron Payne, James Tamou, Scott Bolton, Glenn Hall, Dallas Johnson. Interchange: Moses Pangai, Ben Jones, Ashton Sims, Ricky Thorby, Leeson Ah Mau, Tariq Sims.

[patskE]

hopefully lawton and tomane impress. watched sths vs titans round 2 from last year, n jeez tomane wow. ahaha

[Supergoose]

Is this our last trial? I really hope that Capewell and Tomane can force their way into the starting line-up. Toopi and Michaels haven't done anything wrong but Tomane gives us something more and Capewell will light our backline on fire. Interesting that there's no Fai Fai Loa for the Cowboys - I thought he was a lock for one of the wing spots. I'm guessing that the line-up named for this match will be the one that goes into round 1 with maybe Mini and Laffranchi to come in and potentially Lawton onto the bench to split time with Brown as Campbell will no doubt start on the bench and come into the game after 30 with Bird moving up into the pack. I'm really hoping Capewell gets the guernsey at five-eighth but reckon Carty will go with the Bird/Campbell combo.

[DIEHARD]

Cowboys roll out big guns for Titans

THE North Queensland Cowboys will field the star triumvirate of Johnathan Thurston, Willie Tonga and Matt Bowen against the Gold Coast Titans in Cairns this weekend.

The Cowboys yesterday named their 19-man team for Saturday night's trial, and aside from the absences of the injured Antonio Winterstein (broken jaw) and Gavin Cooper (medial strain), the squad is the strongest North Queensland has fielded this year.

The Cowboys also received a boost of sorts yesterday when it was revealed Winterstein's jaw injury was not as serious as previously thought, with the 22-year-old speedster suffering one jaw fracture instead of two.

Winterstein was expected to return home from hospital yesterday following surgery for the injury, sustained during the clash with the Brisbane Broncos in Alice Springs at the weekend.

The positive prognosis came as a welcome piece of news for the Cowboys, who have endured a severely disrupted pre-season.

Cowboys general manager of football Peter Parr said Winterstein, who was injured while falling awkwardly into a tackle, was now expected to be out of action for six weeks.

"The doctor informs us there was only one bone broken, we were expecting that two bones had been broken so the news is better than we expected," Parr said.

"There's still some time before we can definitely answer, but we expect he'll now be out for six weeks."

Earlier estimates had Winterstein facing up to eight weeks on the sidelines.

"It's not great news, but it's certainly better than what it could've been," Parr said.

Townsville product Ray Thompson has been named to partner Thurston in the halves.

It is a boon selection for Thompson, who is facing competition from Ben Jones and Michael Morgan for the five-eighth role.

Thurston is expected to wear the captain's armband for the Barlow Park hit-out, when Northern Pride premiership player and Cowboys squad member Michael Bani will find himself in very familiar surroundings.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS: 1 Matt Bowen 2 Ash Graham 3 Will Tupou 4 Willie Tonga 5 Michael Bani 6 Ray Thompson 7 Johnathan Thurston 8 Matt Scott 9 Aaron Payne 10 James Tamou 11 Scott Bolton 12 Glenn Hall 13 Dallas JohnsonINTERCHANGE: Moses Pangai Ben Jones Ashton Sims Ricky Thorby Leeson Ah Mau Tariq Sims

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au