FULFILLING THE DREAM

Q Your grew up supporting the Cowboys and last weekend you played your first game for the club – it’s like a kid living out his ultimate dream, isn’t it? A It’s pretty surreal. Growing up in Cairns you’re either a Cowboys fan or a Broncos fan and our house were all Cowboys supporters. Growing up watching them my favourite player was always Mango – Matty Bowen. When you’re a young footy fan, you never forget those heartbreaking moments and for me that was when they lost in the 2005 NRL Grand Final. You take it pretty tough. But after seeing that team as a child and then getting to put that jersey on last weekend in front of a lot of family and friends, and especially up here on sort of home soil up north, was crazy. To have everyone there and all the emotions in one go was pretty special. Q How’d you fair with the North Queensland floods earlier in the year? A I had just moved in and I was just starting to get my stuff in when it started to get pretty bad. My house was about knee-level on me full of water and my whole suburb was under. I had to drive in to my house on a dingy to get the rest of my stuff. The whole street, everything was flooded. It was pretty full but I was really feeling more so for the elderly people and those families that were living there. I just moved in and I was renting, but those people that owned their houses and that had to move their whole family, I was really feeling for them. Seeing all the boys get together and help out the community was pretty special.