2003 North Queensland Cowboys season

The 2003 North Queensland Cowboys season was the 9th in the club's history. Coached by Graham Murray and captained by Paul Bowman, they competed in the NRL's 2003 Telstra Premiership. Although the club once again finished 11th, they recorded their highest number of wins (10) and competition points (24) in a season.[1]

2003 North Queensland Cowboys season
NRL Rank11th
Play-off resultMissed finals
2003 recordWins: 10; draws: 0; losses: 14
Points scoredFor: 606; against: 629
Team information
CEODenis Keeffe
CoachGraham Murray
Captain
StadiumDairy Farmers Stadium
Avg. attendance14,892
High attendance25,242 (vs. Brisbane Broncos, Round 4)
Top scorers
TriesMatt Sing (21)
GoalsJosh Hannay (95)
PointsJosh Hannay (230)
← 2002 2004 →

Season summary

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The rebuild continued for the Cowboys heading into the 2003 season, with 12 players leaving the club. Their key signings included premiership-winning back rower Kevin Campion, New Zealand international prop Paul Rauhihi and journeyman utility David Myles. All three would eventually help the club to their first finals appearance a year later.

Following a solid end to the 2002 season, the new year started brightly for the club, as they won six games from the first 12 rounds to sit inside the Top 8. They picked up three straights win from Rounds 10-12, their first three-game winning streak since 1998. A mid-season slump would soon follow, with eight losses from their next nine fixtures.

The season ended strongly once again, with three wins from their final four games to secure a second consecutive 11th place finish, four competition points outside the Top 8. During the season Matt Sing became the first Cowboy to represent Australia, when selected for their July Test match against New Zealand.

Milestones

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Squad List

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North Queensland Cowboys NRL Squad 2003
First team squad Coaching staff

Head coach

Assistant coach


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



Squad Movement

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2003 Gains

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Player Signed From
Jason Barsley   Central Comets
Dane Campbell   Redcliffe Dolphins
Kevin Campion   Warriors
Paul McNicholas   South Sydney Rabbitohs
Michael Meigan   Canterbury Bulldogs
Aaron Morgan   Wests Panthers
David Myles   Warriors
Paul Rauhihi   Canterbury Bulldogs
Neil Sweeney   Newcastle Knights

2003 Losses

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Player Signed From
Ashley Alberts   Brisbane Broncos
Tevita Amone Released
Tarin Bradford Retired
Tim Brasher Retired
John Doyle Retired
Peter Jones Retired
Tim Maddison   Pia Donkeys
John Manning   Melbourne Storm
Ken McGuinness Retired
Justin McKay   Wests Tigers
Shaun Valentine Retired

Ladder

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Pos Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1   Penrith Panthers (P) 24 18 0 6 2 659 527 +132 40
2   Sydney Roosters 24 17 0 7 2 680 445 +235 38
3   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 16 0 8 2 702 419 +283 36
4   Canberra Raiders 24 16 0 8 2 620 463 +157 36
5   Melbourne Storm 24 15 0 9 2 564 486 +78 34
6   New Zealand Warriors 24 15 0 9 2 545 510 +35 34
7   Newcastle Knights 24 14 0 10 2 632 635 -3 32
8   Brisbane Broncos 24 12 0 12 2 497 464 +33 28
9   Parramatta Eels 24 11 0 13 2 570 582 -12 26
10   St George Illawarra Dragons 24 11 0 13 2 548 593 -45 26
11   North Queensland Cowboys 24 10 0 14 2 606 629 -23 24
12   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 8 0 16 2 497 704 -207 20
13   Wests Tigers 24 7 0 17 2 470 598 -128 18
14   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24 7 0 17 2 557 791 -234 18
15   South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 3 0 21 2 457 758 -301 10

Fixtures

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Regular season

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Date Round Opponent Venue Score Tries Goals Attendance
15 March Round 1   Canberra Raiders Dairy Farmers Stadium 14 – 46 Sing (2), Hannay Hannay (1/3) 15,421
22 March Round 2   Manly Sea Eagles Dairy Farmers Stadium 30 – 20 Lowe (2), McNicholas, Sing Hannay (7/8) 10,937
31 March Round 3   South Sydney Rabbitohs Aussie Stadium 27 – 20 B. Bowen, Muckert, Sheppard Hannay (7/8), Sheppard (1 FG) 9,422
5 April Round 4   Brisbane Broncos Dairy Farmers Stadium 24 – 32 B. Bowen, Morrison, Myles, McWilliams Hannay (4/4), B. Bowen (0/1) 25,242
12 April Round 5   Sydney Roosters Dairy Farmers Stadium 0 – 32 12,089
21 April Round 6   Warriors Ericsson Stadium 24 – 30 Sing (2), Hannay, McWilliams Hannay (4/4) 19,722
26 April Round 7   Melbourne Storm Dairy Farmers Stadium 32 – 12 Sing (3), Hannay, Williams Hannay (6/6) 12,023
Round 8 Bye
11 May Round 9   Brisbane Broncos ANZ Stadium 12 – 38 M. Bowen, Myles Hannay (2/2) 13,197
17 May Round 10   Wests Tigers Dairy Farmers Stadium 26 – 8 Sing (2), Luck, Muspratt Hannay (5/6) 10,783
24 May Round 11   Manly Sea Eagles Brookvale Oval 31 – 20 Sing (2), Hannay, Morrison, Myles Hannay (5/6), Morrison (0/1), Sheppard (1 FG) 7,028
1 June Round 12   St George Illawarra Dragons Oki Jubilee Stadium 36 – 16 Sing (2), Bowman, Morrison, Sheppard, Williams Hannay (6/7) 13,517
7 June Round 13   Penrith Panthers Dairy Farmers Stadium 24 – 28 Barsley, Hannay, Myles, Williams Hannay (4/5) 17,012
15 June Round 14   Sydney Roosters Aussie Stadium 14 – 15 Morrison, Myles Hannay (3/4) 9,123
21 June Round 15   Parramatta Eels Parramatta Stadium 22 – 24 Morgan, Morrison, Myles, Sweeney Hannay (3/5) 9,027
28 June Round 16   Cronulla Sharks Dairy Farmers Stadium 28 – 34 Williams (2), M. Bowen, Morrison Hannay (6/7) 13,598
5 July Round 17   Warriors Dairy Farmers Stadium 30 – 10 Hannay, Morrison, Sing, Williams Hannay (7/9) 16,028
12 July Round 18   Melbourne Storm Olympic Park 16 – 22 Dezolt, Morgan, Myles Morrison (2/4) 7,643
19 July Round 19   St George Illawarra Dragons Dairy Farmers Stadium 16 – 38 M. Bowen, Bowman, Sing Morrison (2/3), Hannay (0/1) 16,542
27 July Round 20   Canterbury Bulldogs Sydney Showground 22 – 42 Hannay, Myles, McDonald, Sing Hannay (3/5) 7,091
Round 21 Bye
9 August Round 22   Newcastle Knights Dairy Farmers Stadium 24 – 60 M. Bowen, Muckert, Rauhihi, Williams Hannay (4/4) 15,072
16 August Round 23   Canberra Raiders Canberra Stadium 34 – 28 B. Bowen, Bowman, Hannay, Myles, Payne, Williams Hannay (5/7) 8,074
23 August Round 24   South Sydney Rabbitohs Dairy Farmers Stadium 60 – 8 M. Bowen (3), Hannay, Muckert, Myles, Payne, Rauhihi, Sing, Williams Hannay (10/12) 13,872
31 August Round 25   Wests Tigers Campbelltown Stadium 34 – 14 Williams (3), Sing (2), Hannay, Muckert Hannay (3/6), M. Bowen (0/1) 6,158
7 September Round 26   Newcastle Knights EnergyAustralia Stadium 26 – 34 M. Bowen, Myles, Sing M. Bowen (5/7) 18,244
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw   Bye

Statistics

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Name App T G FG Pts
Jason Barsley 3 1 - - 4
Brenton Bowen 6 3 - - 12
Matthew Bowen 20 9 5 - 46
Paul Bowman 16 3 - - 12
John Buttigieg 8 - - - -
Kevin Campion 24 - - - -
Paul Dezolt 9 1 - - 4
Nathan Fien 2 - - - -
George Gatis 1 - - - -
Josh Hannay 23 10 95 - 230
Jacob Lillyman 3 - - - -
Jaiman Lowe 24 2 - - 8
Micheal Luck 22 1 - - 4
Jamie McDonald 11 1 - - 4
Paul McNicholas 7 1 - - 4
Leigh McWilliams 14 2 - - 8
Aaron Morgan 2 2 - - 8
Glenn Morrison 22 7 4 - 36
Chris Muckert 23 4 - - 16
Shane Muspratt 21 1 - - 4
David Myles 24 11 - - 44
Aaron Payne 4 2 - - 8
Chris Sheppard 22 2 - 2 10
Matt Sing 20 21 - - 84
Daniel Sorbello 1 - - - -
Daniel Strickland 17 - - - -
Neil Sweeney 7 1 - - 4
David Thompson 6 - - - -
Derrick Watkins 1 - - - -
Scott Whiting 2 - - - -
Ty Williams 22 12 - - 48
Totals 99 104 2 606

Source:[2]

Representatives

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The following players played a representative match in 2003.

City vs Country State of Origin 1 State of Origin 2 State of Origin 3 July Test October Test Ashes Series
Matthew Bowen
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Queensland
Queensland
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Paul Bowman
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Queensland
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-
-
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Josh Hannay
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Queensland
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Glenn Morrison
Country
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-
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Paul Rauhihi
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New Zealand
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Matt Sing
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Queensland
Queensland
Queensland
Australia
Australia
Australia

Honours

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Club

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Feeder Clubs

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References

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  1. ^ Honours Archived 2011-10-12 at the Wayback Machine at cowboys.com.au
  2. ^ "NRL 2003 - North Queensland Cowboys - Rugby League Project".

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