2005 North Queensland Cowboys season

The 2005 North Queensland Cowboys season was the 11th in the club's history. Coached by Graham Murray and captained by Travis Norton, they competed in the National Rugby League's 2005 Telstra Premiership and finished 5th (out of 15), reaching the play-offs for the second consecutive year. The Cowboys then went on to appear in the 2005 NRL grand final, their first, which they lost to the Wests Tigers.

Johnathan Thurston received the Dally M Medal and was also named the club's player of the year.^[1]

The Cowboys were named "Queensland Sport Team of the Year" at the Queensland Sport Awards.^[2]

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Parramatta	24	16	0	8	2	704	456	+248	36
2	St George Illawarra	24	16	0	8	2	655	510	+145	36
3	Brisbane	24	15	0	9	2	597	484	+113	34
4	Wests Tigers	24	14	0	10	2	676	575	+101	32
5	North Queensland	24	14	0	10	2	639	563	+76	32
6	Melbourne	24	13	0	11	2	640	462	+178	30
7	Cronulla	24	12	0	12	2	550	564	-14	28
8	Manly	24	12	0	12	2	554	632	-78	28
9	Sydney	24	11	0	13	2	488	487	+1	26
10	Penrith	24	11	0	13	2	554	554	=0	26
11	New Zealand	24	10	0	14	2	515	528	-13	24
12	Bulldogs	24	9	1	14	2	472	670	-198	23
13	South Sydney	24	9	1	14	2	482	700	-218	23
14	Canberra	24	9	0	15	2	465	606	-141	22
15	Newcastle	24	8	0	16	2	467	667	-200	20

Squad & Statistics

Name	P	T	G	FG	PTS
Jason Barsley	1	0	0	0	0
Brenton Bowen	10	4	0	0	16
Matthew Bowen	25	20	0	0	80
Paul Bowman	26	9	0	0	36
David Faiumu	21	5	0	0	20
Brett Firman	11	2	0	0	8
Josh Hannay	21	7	62	0	152
Rod Jensen	23	11	0	0	44
Jacob Lillyman	12	1	0	0	4
Jaiman Lowe	8	1	0	0	4
Michael Luck	9	1	0	0	4
Leigh McWilliams	7	0	0	0	0
David Myles	6	0	1	0	2
Travis Norton*	17	2	0	0	8
Luke O'Donnell	26	2	0	0	8
Aaron Payne	28	5	0	0	20
Paul Rauhihi*	26	0	1	0	2
Mitchell Sargent	19	1	0	0	4
Matthew Scott	3	0	0	0	0
Chris Shepherd	5	0	0	0	0
Matt Sing	25	16	0	0	64
Justin Smith	25	5	10	0	40
Steve Southern	27	3	0	0	12
Neil Sweeney	3	2	0	0	8
Johnathan Thurston	26	5	28	2	78
Shane Tronc	27	1	0	0	4
Carl Webb	16	3	0	0	16
Ty Williams	23	18	0	0	72

(*) Both players captained the team at some point during the season

Draw and Results

Round	Opponent	Result	Nth.Qld	Opp.	Date	Venue	Attendance
1	Brisbane Broncos	Loss	16	29	13 Mar	Suncorp Stadium	43,488
2	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	24	12	18 Mar	Dairy Farmers Stadium	21,138
3	New Zealand Warriors	Win	32	22	27 Mar	Ericsson Stadium	13,888
4	Newcastle Knights	Win	52	18	2 Apr	Dairy Farmers Stadium	22,347
5	Cronulla Sharks	Loss	6	38	9 Apr	Toyota Park	17,323
6	Wests Tigers	Win	44	20	16 Apr	Dairy Farmers Stadium	20,361
7	Penrith Panthers	Win	36	22	24 Apr	CUA Stadium	17,998
8	Sydney Roosters	Win	38	18	30 April	Dairy Farmers Stadium	22,476
9	Parramatta Eels	Loss	12	50	8 May	Parramatta Stadium	8,051
10	Brisbane Broncos	Loss	6	23	14 May	Dairy Farmers Stadium	22,477
11	BYE
12	Canterbury Bulldogs	Win	48	12	27 May	Carrara Stadium	21,012
13	Cronulla Sharks	Win	56	14	4 June	Dairy Farmers Stadium	20,843
14	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Loss	4	34	12 June	Oki Jubilee Stadium	15,260
15	BYE
16	Canberra Raiders	Loss	22	23	25 June	Canberra Stadium	9,129
17	New Zealand Warriors	Win	24	16	2 July	Dairy Farmers Stadium	20,078
18	Newcastle Knights	Loss	18	22	10 July	EnergyAustralia Stadium	11,864
19	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Loss	14	16	16 July	Dairy Farmers Stadium	17,038
20	Penrith Panthers	Win	38	18	23 July	Dairy Farmers Stadium	18,932
21	Manly Sea Eagles	Win	26	24	31 July	Brookvale Oval	13,118
22	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Loss	16	36	5 August	Dairy Farmers Stadium	21,021
23	Wests Tigers	Loss	16	28	14 August	Campbelltown Stadium	20,527
24	Canberra Raiders	Win	31	28	20 August	Dairy Farmers Stadium	17,893
25	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Win	30	16	28 August	Central Coast Stadium	13,079
26	Melbourne Storm	Win	30	24	3 September	Dairy Farmers Stadium	22,471

Final Series

Qualifying Finals 9 September 2005	Wests Tigers	50 - 6	North Queensland Cowboys	Telstra Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 26,463 Referee/s: Paul Simpkins
	Tries: Hodgson (3) Elford (1) Fitzhenry (1) Whatuira (1) Fulton (1) Richards (1) Goals: Hodgson (9/9)	Report	Tries: Sing (1) Goals: Hannay (1/1)

Semi Finals 17 September 2005	Melbourne Storm	16 - 24	North Queensland Cowboys	Aussie Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 16,810 Referee/s: Paul Simpkins
	Tries: Bell (1) Orford (1) King (1) Goals: Orford (1/2) Smith (1/1)	Report	Tries: Bowen (1), Williams (2), Faiumu (1) Goals: Hannay (2/3) Thurston (2/2)

Preliminary Finals 25 September 2005	Parramatta Eels	0 - 29	North Queensland Cowboys	Telstra Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 44,327 Referee/s: Steven Clark
		Report	Tries: Bowen (1) Jensen (1) Firman (1) Williams (1) Hannay (1) Goals: Hannay (4/6) Field Goals: Thurston (1/1)

Grand Final 2 October 2005	Wests Tigers	30 - 16	North Queensland Cowboys	Telstra Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 82,453 Referee/s: Tim Mander
	Tries: Gibbs (1) Richards (1) Laffranchi (1) Fitzhenry (1) Payten (1) Goals: Hodgson (5/5)	Report	Tries: Norton (1) Sing (1) Bowen (1) Goals: Hannay (2/3)

References

1. ^ Honours at cowboys.com.au
2. ^ "Queensland Sport Awards Winners 1995-2008". qsport.org.au. QSport. http://www.qsport.org.au/Qld%20Sport%20Awards%20Award%20Winners%201995-2008.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-05.