1995 North Queensland Cowboys season

The 1995 North Queensland Cowboys season was the first in the club's history. Coached by Grant Bell and captained by Laurie Spina, they competed in the ARL Premiership.

1995 North Queensland Cowboys season
ARL Rank20th
Play-off resultMissed finals
1995 recordWins: 2; draws: 0; losses: 20
Points scoredFor: 269; against: 660
Team information
CEOKerry Boustead
CoachGrant Bell
Captain
StadiumStockland Stadium
Avg. attendance21,670
High attendance24,855 (vs. Brisbane Broncos, Round 5)
Top scorers
TriesDavid Bouveng, Justin Loomans (9)
GoalsJonathan Davies (19)
PointsJonathan Davies (43)
1996 →

Season summary

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Two years after being admitted into Australia's premier rugby league competition, the North Queensland Cowboys played their first official premiership game on Saturday, March 11. Led by inaugural captain and Ingham local Laurie Spina, the club faced the Sydney Bulldogs in front of a crowd of 23,156 at Stockland Stadium. There was no fairy tale beginning for the club, as centre Adrian Vowles was sent off for a high shot six minutes into the match and the Bulldogs won the game 32-16.[1] Teenage fullback Damian Gibson, who was making his first grade debut, scored the club's first premiership try.

The club found little success during their debut season in the premiership. They began the season with seven straight losses before picking up their first ever win against the Illawarra Steelers at Steelers Stadium in Round 8. A six-game losing streak followed, which was then snapped in Round 15, when the club recorded their first ever home win, defeating the Western Suburbs Magpies. It would be the last time the club enjoyed victory that season, as they ended the year with seven consecutive losses. The Cowboys finished 1995 in 20th place, winning the dreaded wooden spoon, with just two wins from 22 games.

Former Eastern Suburbs Roosters prop Wayne Sing, who played 20 games, was named Player of the Year and Players' Player at the end of the season. The Cowboys would also have three players participate in the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. Jonathan Davies (a former Welsh rugby union international) and Kevin Ellis (who spent the entire season in reserve grade) both represented Wales, while Robert Piva (a recruit from Wakefield Trinity) represented Western Samoa.

Perhaps the one bright spot from the Cowboys' inaugural season was the debut of young Proserpine centre Paul Bowman. Bowman, who played seven games in 1995, would go onto captain the club and play 203 games over 13 seasons. Following his retirement in 2007, the club renamed their Player of the Year award the Paul Bowman Medal in his honour. He would join the club's coaching staff as an assistant coach and later their high performance manager, being on the staff for their NRL Premiership and 2016 World Club Challenge winning sides.

Milestones

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Squad list

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North Queensland Cowboys ARL Squad 1995
First team squad Coaching staff

Head coach



Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice-captain(s)



Squad movement

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1995 Gains

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Player Signed From
George Bartlett   North Sydney Bears
Martin Bella   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
David Bouveng   Gold Coast Seagulls
Shane Christensen   Newcastle Knights
Jonathan Davies   Warrington Wolves
Kevin Ellis   Warrington Wolves
Jason Erba   Brisbane Broncos
Paul Galea   Gold Coast Seagulls
Damian Gibson   Newcastle Knights
Leigh Groves   Gold Coast Seagulls
Jason Martin   Newcastle Knights
Jamie Mathiou   North Sydney Bears
Craig Menkins   Western Suburbs Magpies
Willie Morganson   Brisbane Broncos
Paul Morris   Brisbane Broncos
Robert Piva   Wakefield Trinity
Ian Russell   Illawarra Steelers
Dean Schifilliti   South Sydney Rabbitohs
Bruce Sinclair   Eastern Suburbs Roosters
Wayne Sing   Eastern Suburbs Roosters
John Skardon   Gold Coast Seagulls
Noel Solomon   North Sydney Bears
Laurie Spina   Herbert River Crushers
Craig Teitzel   Warrington Wolves
Adrian Vowles   Gold Coast Seagulls
Andrew Whittington   Gold Coast Seagulls

Ladder

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Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 22 20 0 2 687 248 +439 40
2   Canberra Raiders 22 20 0 2 634 255 +379 40
3   Brisbane Broncos 22 17 0 5 600 364 +236 34
4   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 22 16 0 6 516 287 +229 32
5   Newcastle Knights 22 15 0 7 549 396 +153 30
6   Sydney Bulldogs (P) 22 14 0 8 468 352 +116 28
7   St. George Dragons 22 13 0 9 583 382 +201 26
8   North Sydney Bears 22 11 2 9 542 331 +211 24
9   Sydney City Roosters 22 12 0 10 466 406 +60 24
10   Auckland Warriors 22 13 0 9 544 493 +51 24
11   Western Reds 22 11 0 11 361 549 -188 22
12   Illawarra Steelers 22 10 1 11 519 431 +88 21
13   Western Suburbs Magpies 22 10 0 12 459 534 -75 20
14   Penrith Panthers 22 9 0 13 481 484 -3 18
15   Sydney Tigers 22 7 0 15 309 591 -282 14
16   South Queensland Crushers 22 6 1 15 303 502 -199 13
17   Gold Coast Seagulls 22 4 1 17 350 628 -278 9
18   South Sydney Rabbitohs 22 4 1 17 319 686 -367 9
19   Parramatta Eels 22 3 0 19 310 690 -380 6
20   North Queensland Cowboys 22 2 0 20 269 660 -391 4
  • Auckland Warriors were stripped of 2 competition points due to exceeding the replacement limit in round 3.

Fixtures

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Regular season

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Date Round Opponent Venue Score Tries Goals Attendance
11 March Round 1   Sydney Bulldogs Stockland Stadium 16 – 32 Gibson, Groves Dunemann (3/4), Gibson (1/1) 23,156
19 March Round 2   Sydney City Roosters Sydney Football Stadium 16 – 34 Bouveng, Galea, Mathiou Duneman (2/3) 6,585
26 March Round 3   Sydney Tigers Parramatta Stadium 16 – 38 Bouveng, Galea, Morganson Duneman (2/4) 5,424
1 April Round 4   Canberra Raiders Stockland Stadium 8 – 14 Bartlett, Bouveng Vowles (0/2) 23,561
8 April Round 5   Brisbane Broncos Stockland Stadium 12 – 20 Galea, Loomans, Spina Jones (0/1), Vowles (0/3) 24,855
16 April Round 6   North Sydney Bears North Sydney Oval 6 – 60 Morganson Vowles (1/1) 6,707
22 April Round 7   Manly Sea Eagles Stockland Stadium 14 – 36 Loomans (2), Bouveng Holmes (1/3) 22,167
30 April Round 8   Illawarra Steelers Steelers Stadium 14 – 10 Bouveng (2), Vowles Vowles (1/2), Holmes (0/2) 8,914
6 May Round 9   Parramatta Eels Parramatta Stadium 4 – 20 Bouveng Vowles (0/1) 4,145
20 May Round 10   Sydney City Roosters Stockland Stadium 16 – 20 Loomans (2), Bouveng Davies (2/5) 20,860
4 June Round 11   Newcastle Knights Marathon Stadium 14 – 44 Christensen, Davies, Gibson Davies (1/3) 15,577
10 June Round 12   Cronulla Sharks Caltex Field 10 – 34 Loomans, Martin Holmes (1/1), Morganson (0/1) 5,128
24 June Round 13   Sydney Tigers Stockland Stadium 14 – 28 Dunemann, Loomans Davies (3/5) 20,113
1 July Round 14   Penrith Panthers Penrith Stadium 10 – 40 Bouveng Davies (3/3) 5,774
8 July Round 15   Western Suburbs Magpies Stockland Stadium 31 – 12 Bartlett, Dunemann, Gibson, Martin, Skardon Davies (5/6, 1 FG) 18,112
15 July Round 16   South Sydney Rabbitohs Sydney Football Stadium 16 – 30 Loomans (2), Galea Cressbrook (1/1), Davies (1/3) 4,225
22 July Round 17   Gold Coast Seagulls Stockland Stadium 8 – 10 Martin Davies (2/2) 20,067
29 July Round 18   Auckland Warriors Stockland Stadium 10 – 28 Jones, Vowles Davies (1/2) 23,521
6 August Round 19   South Queensland Crushers Suncorp Stadium 6 – 22 Bowman Davies (1/2) 17,105
12 August Round 20   Western Reds Stockland Stadium 10 – 12 Blackman, Jones Cressbrook (1/3) 19,675
20 August Round 21   St George Dragons Stockland Stadium 14 – 50 Skardon, Vowles Cressbrook (3/3) 22,283
27 August Round 22   Sydney Bulldogs Belmore Oval 4 – 66 Skardon Cressbrook (0/1) 18,818
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw   Bye

Statistics

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Name App T G FG Pts
Faron Anderson 2 - - - -
George Bartlett 21 2 - - 8
Martin Bella 14 - - - -
Ray Blackman 3 1 - - 4
David Bouveng 16 9 - - 36
Paul Bowman 7 1 - - 4
Shane Christensen 10 1 - - 4
Reggie Cressbrook 8 - 5 - 10
Jonathan Davies 9 1 19 1 43
Ian Dunemann 13 2 7 - 22
Jason Erba 5 - - - -
Paul Galea 19 4 - - 16
Damian Gibson 20 3 1 - 14
Leigh Groves 17 1 - - 4
Michael Hogue 4 - - - -
Steven Holmes 5 - 2 - 4
Peter Jones 12 2 - - 8
Aaron Ketchell 3 - - - -
Justin Loomans 16 9 - - 36
David Maiden 2 - - - -
Jason Martin 8 3 - - 12
Jamie Mathiou 7 1 - - 4
Andrew Meads 1 - - - -
Craig Menkins 4 - - - -
Willie Morganson 8 2 - - 8
Paul Morris 2 - - - -
Glen Murphy 1 - - - -
Robert Piva 9 - - - -
Ian Russell 11 - - - -
Dean Schifilliti 1 - - - -
Bruce Sinclair 11 - - - -
Wayne Sing 20 - - - -
John Skardon 16 3 - - 12
Noel Slade 1 - - - -
Noel Solomon 6 - - - -
Laurie Spina 13 1 - - 4
Craig Teitzel 12 - - - -
Adrian Vowles 20 3 2 - 16
Andrew Whittington 11 - - - -
Totals 49 36 1 269

Source:[2]

Representatives

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The following players played a representative match in 1995.

World Cup
Jonathan Davies
Wales
Kevin Ellis
Wales
Robert Piva
Western Samoa

Honours

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Club

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References

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  1. ^ "Latest News".
  2. ^ "ARL 1995 - North Queensland Cowboys - Rugby League Project".

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