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 place, failing to reach the finals for the second consecutive year.

2009 North Queensland Cowboys season
NRL Rank12th
Play-off resultMissed finals
2009 recordWins: 11; draws: 0; losses: 13
Points scoredFor: 558; against: 474
Team information
CEOPeter Parr
CoachNeil Henry
Captain
StadiumDairy Farmers Stadium
Avg. attendance17,309
High attendance24,332 (vs. Brisbane Broncos, Round 25)
Top scorers
TriesMatthew Bowen (12)
Willie Tonga (12)
GoalsJohnathan Thurston (79)
PointsJohnathan Thurston (202)
← 2008 2010 →

Season summary

edit

The 2009 season was an improvement on 2008 for the Cowboys, with 11 wins from 24 games. The closeness of the 2009 season meant the Cowboys finished 12th, just three points behind eventual Grand Finalists Parramatta, who finished 8th.

Neil Henry re-joined the club as head coach in 2009, taking over from interim head coach Ian Millward. Henry was an assistant coach at the club from 2002 to 2006, before moving to the Canberra Raiders in 2007 and winning the Dally M Coach of the Year award in 2008. Renowned strength and conditioning coach Billy Johnstone also returned to the club after a stint at the Gold Coast Titans. The club's key off-season recruits included Australian and Queensland representatives Willie Tonga, Antonio Kaufusi and Shannon Hegarty.

After a slow start to the season, the Cowboys enjoyed a strong run of form that included a four-game winning streak. With five rounds to play, they were sitting inside the top eight in 6th position. The club then endured four-game losing streak to end the season, dropping to 12th place.

2009 saw the debut of James Tamou, who joined the club from the Sydney Roosters under-20's side. Tamou would become an Australian and New South Wales representative at the Cowboys and play integral role in the club's maiden premiership victory in 2015.

Milestones

edit

Squad List

edit
North Queensland Cowboys NRL Squad 2009
First team squad Coaching staff

Head coach

Assistant coaches


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



Squad Movement

edit

2009 Gains

edit
Player Signed From Until End of
Mitch Achurch   Wests Tigers
2010
Clint Amos   Gold Coast Titans
2010
Michael Bani   Manly Sea Eagles (mid-season)
2011
Shannon Hegarty   South Sydney Rabbitohs
2009
Antonio Kaufusi   Melbourne Storm
2011
Donald Malone   Ipswich Jets
2010
Manase Manuokafoa   South Sydney Rabbitohs
2011
David Pangai   Sydney Roosters
2009
Steve Rapira   Warriors
2010
Grant Rovelli   Warriors
2010
James Tamou   Sydney Roosters
2010
Willie Tonga   Canterbury Bulldogs
2012

2009 Losses

edit
Player Signed To Until End of
Daniel Abraham   Mackay Cutters
2009
Daniel Backo Released
-
Greg Byrnes   Northern Pride
2009
Ray Cashmere   Salford City Reds
2010
Ben Farrar   Manly Sea Eagles (mid-season)
2010
Sione Faumuina   Castleford Tigers
2010
Sam Faust   Central Tigers
2009
John Frith Released
-
George Gatis Retired
-
Luke Harlen   Northern Pride
2009
Mark Henry   Salford City Reds
2010
Keiron Lander   Ipswich Jets
2010
Jacob Lillyman   Warriors
2010
Jackson Nicolau   Gold Coast Titans
2009
Chris Sheppard   Northern Pride
2010
Justin Smith Retired
-
Ben Vaeau   Easts Tigers
2010

Ladder

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1   St. George Illawarra Dragons 24 17 0 7 2 548 329 +219 38
2   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 18 0 6 2 575 428 +147 381
3   Gold Coast Titans 24 16 0 8 2 514 467 +47 36
4   Melbourne Storm 24 14 1 9 2 505 348 +157 33
5   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24 14 0 10 2 549 459 +90 32
6   Brisbane Broncos 24 14 0 10 2 511 566 −55 32
7   Newcastle Knights 24 13 0 11 2 508 491 +17 30
8   Parramatta Eels 24 12 1 11 2 476 473 +3 29
9   Wests Tigers 24 12 0 12 2 558 483 +75 28
10   South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 11 1 12 2 566 549 +17 27
11   Penrith Panthers 24 11 1 12 2 515 589 −74 27
12   North Queensland Cowboys 24 11 0 13 2 558 474 +84 26
13   Canberra Raiders 24 9 0 15 2 489 520 −31 22
14   New Zealand Warriors 24 7 2 15 2 377 565 −188 20
15   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 5 0 19 2 359 568 −209 14
16   Sydney Roosters 24 5 0 19 2 382 681 −299 14

1 The Bulldogs were deducted 2 competition points after an interchange breach in Round 2.

Fixtures

edit

Pre-season

edit
Date Round Opponent Venue Score Tries Goals Attendance
21 February Trial 1   Warriors North Harbour Stadium 28 – 32 - - -
28 February Trial 2   Penrith Panthers Barlow Park 18 – 18 - - -
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw

Regular season

edit
Date Round Opponent Venue Score Tries Goals Attendance
13 March Round 1   Brisbane Suncorp Stadium 18 – 19 Bowen, Tonga, Webb Thurston (3/3) 45,022
21 March Round 2   Wests Tigers Dairy Farmers Stadium 42 – 14 Bowen, Burns, Kaufusi, Payne, Webb, J Williams, T Williams Thurston (7/7) 19,879
28 March Round 3   Melbourne Dairy Farmers Stadium 12 – 26 Bolton, J Williams Thurston (2/2) 21,489
6 April Round 4   Canberra Raiders Canberra Stadium 18 – 23 Burns, Farrar, J Williams Thurston (3/3) 12,198
11 April Round 5   Gold Coast Titans Dairy Farmers Stadium 10 – 14 Hegarty, Thurston Thurston (1/2) 18,123
19 April Round 6   Cronulla Sharks Hindmarsh Stadium 34 – 10 Bowen, Farrar, Hegarty, O'Donnell, Tonga, Tronc Thurston (5/6) 8,547
25 April Round 7   Manly Sea Eagles Dairy Farmers Stadium 26 – 12 Bowen (2), Bolton, Farrar Thurston (5/5) 16,153
1 May Round 8   Parramatta Eels Parramatta Stadium 18 – 28 Farrar, Southern, Tamou Thurston (3/3) 8,104
9 May Round 9   St George Illawarra Dairy Farmers Stadium 24 – 20 Thurston (3), Tamou Thurston (4/5( 16,031
17 May Round 10   Warriors Mt Smart Stadium 34 – 12 Bowen, Farrar, Graham, O'Donnell, Thurston, Tonga Thurston (5/6) 16,345
25 May Round 11   Newcastle Knights Dairy Farmers Stadium 36 – 10 Burns, Kaufusi, O'Donnell, Southern, Thurston, J Williams Thurston (6/7) 11,892
Round 12 Bye
6 June Round 13   South Sydney Rabbitohs Dairy Farmers Stadium 46 – 12 Graham (2), J Williams (2), Bolton, Bowen, Payne, Scott, T Williams Thurston (5/9) 16,568
14 June Round 14   St George Illawarra Dragons WIN Stadium 18 – 32 O'Donnell, Tonga, T Williams Thurston (3/3) 11,374
20 June Round 15   Sydney Roosters Dairy Farmers Stadium 24 – 22 Burns, Payne, Southern, Webb J Williams (4/4) 13,486
26 June Round 16   Canterbury Bulldogs ANZ Stadium 18 – 30 Payne, Watts, J Williams Thurston (3/3) 13,461
4 July Round 17   Cronulla Sharks Dairy Farmers Stadium 24 – 4 Bowen (2), J Williams, T Williams Thurston (4/5) 17,283
Round 18 Bye
19 July Round 19   Wests Tigers Leichhardt Oval 14 – 34 Bowen, Webb Thurston (3/3) 18,804
25 July Round 20   Penrith Panthers Dairy Farmers Stadium 20 – 28 Thurston, Tonga, Webb, J Williams Thurston (2/4) 14,274
31 July Round 21   Gold Coast Titans Skilled Park 34 – 18 Bowen (2), Bani, Rapira, Tonga, J Williams Thurston (5/6) 20,315
7 August Round 22   Melbourne Storm Olympic Park 8 – 20 Tonga (2) Thurston (0/2) 10,510
14 August Round 23   Canterbury Bulldogs Dairy Farmers Stadium 12 – 22 Thurston, Tonga Thurston (2/2) 18,199
22 August Round 24   Newcastle Knights EnergyAustralia Stadium 26 – 32 Thurston (2), Bani, Tonga, Watts Thurston (3/5) 15,408
28 August Round 25   Brisbane Broncos Dairy Farmers Stadium 10 – 16 O'Donnell, Tonga Thurston (1/2) 24,332
6 September Round 26   Sydney Roosters SFS 32 – 16 Graham, Malone, Thurston, Tonga, Tronc, T Williams Thurston (4/6) 10,277
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw   Bye

Statistics

edit
Name App T G FG Pts
Clint Amos 4 - - - -
Michael Bani 9 2 - - 8
Scott Bolton 24 3 - - 12
Matthew Bowen 20 12 - - 48
Travis Burns 20 4 - - 16
Ben Farrar 10 5 - - 20
Ashley Graham 16 4 - - 16
Ben Harris 8 - - - -
Shannon Hegarty 5 2 - - 8
Antonio Kaufusi 22 2 - - 8
Donald Malone 2 1 - - 4
Manase Manuokafoa 12 - - - -
Luke O'Donnell 17 5 - - 20
Aaron Payne 16 4 - - 16
Steve Rapira 16 1 - - 4
Grant Rovelli 13 - - - -
Matthew Scott 23 1 - - 4
Steve Southern 20 3 - - 12
James Tamou 12 2 - - 8
Ray Thompson 1 - - - -
Johnathan Thurston 23 11 79 - 202
Willie Tonga 19 12 - - 48
Shane Tronc 24 2 - - 8
Anthony Watts 14 2 - - 8
Carl Webb 22 5 - - 20
Dayne Weston 2 - - - -
John Williams 17 10 4 - 48
Ty Williams 17 5 - - 20
Totals 98 83 0 558

Source:[1]

Representatives

edit

The following players have played a representative match in 2009

City vs Country ANZAC Test State of Origin 1 State of Origin 2 State of Origin 3 Prime Minister's XIII Four Nations
Luke O'Donnell
City
-
New South Wales
New South Wales
-
Prime Minister's XIII
-
Matthew Scott
-
-
-
-
Queensland
Prime Minister's XIII
-
Johnathan Thurston
-
Australia
Queensland
Queensland
Queensland
Prime Minister's XIII
Australia
Willie Tonga
-
-
-
Queensland
Queensland
-
-

Honours

edit

League

edit

Club

edit

Feeder Clubs

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "NRL 2009 - North Queensland Cowboys - Rugby League Project".
edit

19°18′58″S 146°42′43″E / 19.31611°S 146.71194°E / -19.31611; 146.71194 (Willow Sports Complex)