1995 North Queensland Cowboys season explained

Year:	1995
Team Colour:	000080
Font Colour:	FFFFFF
League:	NRL
League Rank:	20th
League Wins:	2
League Draws:	0
League Losses:	20
Points For:	269
Points Against:	660
Playoff Result:	Missed finals
Ceo Title:	CEO
Coach Title:	Coach
Avg Attendance:	21,670
High Attendance:	24,855 (vs. Brisbane Broncos, Round 5)
Top Tries:	David Bouveng, Justin Loomans (9)
Top Goals:	Jonathan Davies (19)
Top Points:	Jonathan Davies (43)
Next Season:	1996

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.

Season summary

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

Round 1: The club played their first premiership game (losing 16-32 to the Canterbury Bulldogs).
Round 1: Damian Gibson scored the club's first try.
Round 1: Damian Gibson and Ian Dunemann made their first grade debuts.
Round 2: David Maiden made his first grade debut.
Round 3: Glen Murphy made his first grade debut.
Round 4: Steven Holmes and Justin Loomans made their first grade debuts.
Round 5: Peter Jones made his first grade debut.
Round 7: Justin Loomans became the first player to score two tries in a match for the club.
Round 8: The club won their first game (def. Illawarra Steelers 14-10).
Round 14: Michael Hogue made his first grade debut.
Round 15: Faron Anderson and Reggie Cressbrook made their first grade debuts.
Round 15: The club won their first home game, and scored 30 points in a match for the first time.
Round 16: Paul Bowman made his first grade debut.
Round 19: Ray Blackman made his first grade debut.
Round 20: Aaron Ketchell made his first grade debut.
Round 22: Andrew Meads and Noel Slade made their first grade debuts.

Squad movement

1995 Gains

Player	Signed From
	North Sydney Bears
	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
	Gold Coast Seagulls
	Newcastle Knights
	Warrington Wolves
	Warrington Wolves
	Brisbane Broncos
	Gold Coast Seagulls
	Newcastle Knights
	Gold Coast Seagulls
	Newcastle Knights
	North Sydney Bears
	Western Suburbs Magpies
	Brisbane Broncos
	Brisbane Broncos
	Wakefield Trinity
	Illawarra Steelers
	South Sydney Rabbitohs
	Eastern Suburbs Roosters
	Eastern Suburbs Roosters
	Gold Coast Seagulls
	North Sydney Bears
	Herbert River Crushers
	Warrington Wolves
	Gold Coast Seagulls
	Gold Coast Seagulls

Ladder

	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

Regular season

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

Statistics

Name	App	T	G	FG	Pts
	2	-	-	-	-
	21	2	-	-	8
	14	-	-	-	-
	3	1	-	-	4
	16	9	-	-	36
	7	1	-	-	4
	10	1	-	-	4
	8	-	5	-	10
	9	1	19	1	43
	13	2	7	-	22
	5	-	-	-	-
	19	4	-	-	16
	20	3	1	-	14
	17	1	-	-	4
	4	-	-	-	-
	5	-	2	-	4
	12	2	-	-	8
	3	-	-	-	-
	16	9	-	-	36
	2	-	-	-	-
	8	3	-	-	12
	7	1	-	-	4
	1	-	-	-	-
	4	-	-	-	-
	8	2	-	-	8
	2	-	-	-	-
	1	-	-	-	-
	9	-	-	-	-
	11	-	-	-	-
	1	-	-	-	-
	11	-	-	-	-
	20	-	-	-	-
	16	3	-	-	12
	1	-	-	-	-
	6	-	-	-	-
	13	1	-	-	4
	12	-	-	-	-
	20	3	2	-	16
	11	-	-	-	-
Totals		49	36	1	269

Source:^[2]

Representatives

The following players played a representative match in 1995.

	World Cup
Jonathan Davies
Kevin Ellis
Robert Piva

Honours

Club

Player of the Year: Wayne Sing
Players' Player: Wayne Sing
Club Person of the Year: Paul Galea

References

-19.3161°N 146.7119°W

Notes and References

Web site: Latest News.
Web site: ARL 1995 - North Queensland Cowboys - Rugby League Project.