Lowe out to give Storm the boot

RUGBY LEAGUE: If former Goondiwindi junior Ethan Lowe kicks the winning goal for the Cowboys against the Storm in tomorrow’s NRL grand final, he will have a special thank-you for his younger brother Stewart.

Ethan played in the forwards for Goondiwindi in the Warwick and District Junior Rugby League competition from under-six to U12s but didn’t do any kicking. That was the job of the halves.

His mother Bridget Lowe remembers Ethan walking the 800m to Riddles Oval at Goondiwindi to kick goals.

“Ethan would kick for goal and Stewart would retrieve the ball,” Bridget said.

Ethan made his NRL debut for the Cowboys against the Gold Coast Titans in 2013 and scored a try on debut.

He first kicked in his second NRL game when regular kicker Johnathan Thurston was on Origin duty.

Bridget said Thurston helped her son with his kicking “especially the mental side of things”.

“He isn’t too nervous before a game. Ethan is very organised and would always do his homework straight after he got home from school,” Bridget said.

The Lowe contingent in Sydney tomorrow will be 25, parents, siblings, uncle, aunts, grandparents, cousins and friends.

“His sister Katie is going. She was a tackle bag for a while,” Bridget said recalling backyard games.