2009 North Queensland Cowboys season

The 2009 North Queensland Cowboys season was the 15th season in the club's history. Coached by Neill Henry and captained by Johnathan Thurston, they competed in the National Rugby League's 2009 Telstra Premiership and finished the regular season 12th (out of 16), failing to reach the play-offs for the second consecutive year. Luke O'Donnell was named the club's player of the year.^[1]

Ladder

2009 NRL seasonv · d · e
	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George Illawarra	24	17	0	7	2	548	329	+219	38
2	Bulldogs	24	18	0	6	2	575	428	+147	38*
3	Gold Coast	24	16	0	8	2	514	467	+47	36
4	Melbourne	24	14	1	9	2	505	348	+157	33
5	Manly-Warringah	24	14	0	10	2	549	439	+90	32
6	Brisbane	24	14	0	10	2	511	566	−55	32
7	Newcastle	24	13	0	11	2	508	491	+17	30
8	Parramatta	24	12	1	11	2	476	473	+3	29
9	Wests Tigers	24	12	0	12	2	558	483	+75	28
10	South Sydney	24	11	1	12	2	566	549	+17	27
11	Penrith	24	11	1	12	2	515	589	−74	27
12	North Queensland	24	11	0	13	2	558	474	+84	26
13	Canberra	24	9	0	15	2	489	510	−31	22
14	New Zealand	24	7	2	15	2	377	545	−188	20
15	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	5	0	19	2	359	568	−209	14
16	Sydney Roosters	24	5	0	19	2	382	681	−299	14

* Bulldogs stripped of 2 competition points after an interchange breach in round 2

Players

Squad

Although other players may play for the North Queensland Cowboys during the year, all NRL clubs are required to select a top 25 First Grade squad at the beginning of the season.

No. Position Player SR Mitchell Achurch HK Clint Amos SR Matthew Bartlett SR Scott Bolton FE Travis Burns CE Brandon Boor FB Matthew Bowen FE Travis Burns WG Ben Farrar CE Ashley Graham CE Ben Harris WG Shannon Hegarty SR Antonio Kaufusi WG Donald Malone FE Manase Manuokafoa FB David Pangai

No. Position Player HK Aaron Payne (vc) WG Anthony Perkins SR Steve Rapira HB Grant Rovelli PR Matthew Scott LK Nick Slyney SR Steve Southern SR James Tamou HB Johnathan Thurston (c) SR Willie Tonga PR Shane Tronc HK Anthony Watts SR Carl Webb PR Dayne Weston CE John Williams CE Ty Williams

Player Movement

Squad changes from 2008 season.

Gains

Name	From	Details
Mitchell Achurch	Wests Tigers	2009–2010
Sepuloni 'Ron' Alovili	Gold Coast Titans	2009–2011
Clint Amos	Gold Coast Titans	2009–2010
Shannon Hegarty	South Sydney Rabbitohs	2009 - 2009
Billy Johnstone	Gold Coast Titans (Strength & Conditioning Coach)	2009–2011
Antonio Kaufusi	Melbourne Storm	2009–2011
Donald Malone	Ipswich Jets	2009–2011
Manase Manuokafoa	South Sydney Rabbitohs	2009–2011
Steve Rapira	New Zealand Warriors U20	2009–2010
Grant Rovelli	New Zealand Warriors	2009–2010
James Tamou	Sydney Roosters	2009–2010
Willie Tonga	Bulldogs Rugby League Football Club	2009–2012

Losses

Name	Club Going To	Details
Ray Cashmere	Salford City Reds	2009
Mark Henry	Salford City Reds
Jacob Lillyman	New Zealand Warriors	2009–2010
Sione Faumuina	Castleford Tigers
Justin Smith	Retired
Jackson Nicolau	Gold Coast Titans
John Frith	Released
Sam Faust	Released
Ben Vaeau	Released
Daniel Backo	Released
Keiron Lander	Released

Fixtures & Results

Trial matches

Trial Match 14 February 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	Cancelled	Mackay Cutters	Leprechaun Park, Mackay, Queensland

Trial Match 21 February 2009	New Zealand Warriors	32 - 28	North Queensland Cowboys	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand

Trial Match 28 February 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	18 - 18	Penrith Panthers	Barlow Park, Cairns, Queensland

Telstra Premiership

Round 1 13 March 2009	Brisbane Broncos	19 - 18	North Queensland Cowboys	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland Attendance: 45,000 Man of the Match: Sam Thaiday
	Tries: Folau (1) Parker (1) Winterstein (1) Yow Yeh (1) Goals Parker (1/4) Field Goals Wallace (1)		Tries: Tonga (1) Webb (1) Bowen (1) Goals Thurston (3/3)

Round 2 21 March 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	42 - 14	Wests Tigers	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville, Queensland Attendance: 19,879 Referee/s: Jason Robinson, Phil Haines
	Tries: Bowen (1) Burns (1) Kaufusi (1) Payne (1) Webb (1) J. Williams (1) T. Williams (1) Goals: Thurston (7/7)		Tries: Moltzen (1) Morris (1) Tuiaki (1) Goals: Marshall (1/3)

Round 3 28 March 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	12 - 26	Melbourne Storm	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville, Queensland
	Tries: Bolton (1) J. Williams (1) Goals: Thurston (2/2)		Tries: Inglis (1) Cronk (1) Quinn (1) Turner (1) Goals: Smith (4/4) Penalty Goals Smith (1)

Round 4 6 April 2009	Canberra Raiders	23 - 18	North Queensland Cowboys	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
	Tries: Plum (1) Croker (1) Purtell (1) Picker (1) Goals: Campese (2/4) Penalty Goals: Campese (1) Field Goals: Campese (1)		Tries: Burns (1) J. Williams (1) Farrar (1) Goals: Thurston (3/3)

Round 5 11 April 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	10 - 14	Gold Coast Titans	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
	Tries: Hegarty (1) Thurston (1) Goals: Thurston (1/2)		Tries: Walker (1) Friend (1) Goals: Prince (1/2) Penalty Goals: Prince (1)

Round 6 19 April 2009	Cronulla Sharks	10 - 34	North Queensland Cowboys	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
	Tries: Wright (1) Tupou (1) Goals: Covell (1/2)		Tries: Hegarty (1) O'Donnell (1) Tonga (1) Farrar (1) Bowen (1) Tronc (1) Goals: Thurston (5/6)

Round 7 25 April 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	26 - 12	Manly Sea Eagles	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
	Tries: Farrar (1) Bolton (1) Bowen (2) Goals: Thurston (4/4) Penalty Goals: Thurston (1)		Tries: Hall (1) Bailey (1) Goals: Lyon (2/2)

Round 8 1 May 2009	Parramatta Eels	28 - 18	North Queensland Cowboys	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta
	Tries: Burt (1) Galuvao (1) Hauraki (1) Hayne (1) M. Keating Goals: K. Keating (3/3) Burt (1/3)		Tries: Farrar (1) Southern (1) Tamou (1) Goals: Thurston (3/3)

Round 9 9 May 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	24 - 20	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
	Tries: Thurston (3) Tamou (1) Goals: Thurston (4/5)		Tries: Morris (4) Goals: Soward (2/4)

Round 10 17 May 2009	New Zealand Warriors	12 - 34	North Queensland Cowboys	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand
	Tries: Fien (1) Kemp (1) Goals: Kemp (2/3)		Tries: Bowen (1) Farrar (1) Graham (1) O'Donnell (1) Thurston (1) Tonga (1) Goals: Thurston (5/6)

Round 11 25 May 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	36 - 10	Newcastle Knights	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
	Tries: Burns (1) Kaufusi (1) O'Donnell (1) Southern (1) Thurston (1) J. Williams (1) Goals: Thurston (6/7)		Tries: Houston (1) Uate (1) Goals: Gidley (1)

Round 12 BYE	'	'	'

Round 13 6 June 2009	North Queensland Cowboys	46 - 12	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
	Tries: J. Williams (2) Graham (2) Payne (1) Bolton (1) Bowen (1) T. Williams (1) Scott (1) Goals: Thurston (5/9)		Tries: Champion (1) Wing (1) Goals: Sandow (2/2)

Round 14 14 June 2009	St. George Illawarra Dragons	32 - 18	North Queensland Cowboys	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
	Tries: Cooper (2) Morris (1) Creagh (1) Soward (1) Goals: Soward (6/6)		Tries: Williams (1) O'Donnell (1) Tonga (1) Goals: Thurston (3/3)

Statistics

Updated: 6 June 2009 (prior to Round 13)

Name	P	T	G	FG	Pts
Clint Amos	4 (4)	1	0	0	0
Scott Bolton	11 (3)	2	0	0	8
Matt Bowen	11 (0)	6	0	0	24
Travis Burns	11 (0)	3	0	0	12
Ben Farrar	10 (0)	5	0	0	20
Ashley Graham	9 (0)	1	0	0	4
Ben Harris	6 (2)	0	0	0	0
Shannon Hegarty	5 (0)	2	0	0	0
Antonio Kaufusi	11 (3)	2	0	0	8
Manase Manuokafoa	3 (2)	0	0	0	0
Luke O'Donnell	10 (0)	3	0	0	12
Aaron Payne	11 (0)	1	0	0	4
Steve Rapira	4 (4)	0	0	0	0
Grant Rovelli	4 (3)	1	0	0	0
Matthew Scott	11 (8)	0	0	0	0
James Tamou	4 (4)	2	0	0	8
Johnathan Thurston	11 (0)	6	44/49	0	112
Willie Tonga	7 (0)	3	0	0	12
Shane Tronc	11 (1)	1	0	0	4
Carl Webb	10 (2)	2	0	0	8
Dayne Weston	1 (1)	0	0	0	0
John Williams	8 (0)	4	0	0	16
Ty Williams	4 (0)	1	0	0	4
Total					272

• Appearances in brackets () denote games off interchange/repl bench
• Key: P = Played, T = Tries, G = Goals, FG = Field Goals, Pts = Points

References

1. ^ Honours at cowboys.com.au

External links

• North Queensland Cowboys: Season Review - NRL.com