TRAINING SHIRTS INSPIRE FORCES

NORTH Queensland Cowboys Holden Cup training shirts are worth fighting your best for.

Townsville- based 1RAR Physical Training Instructor Sgt Dale Gormann – who put the Cowboys under- 20s team through a boot camp in December, 2014 – helped deliver an Initial Employment Training course for members of PNG’s 1st Royal Pacific Island Regiment.

Sgt Gormann was given 10 training shirts from the under20s team to give as an incentive for the soldiers to work towards.

“NRL is like a religion in PNG. Nearly all the PNG defence force we worked with were Cowboys supporters,” Sgt Gormann said. “The training singlets were a huge morale boost for the students and the perfect item to strive towards receiving. Rest assured there will be a handful of PNGDF personnel wearing the singlets proudly for years to come in and around Port Moresby.” NEWS travels fast in the digital information age but Antonio Winterstein prefers to keep media free.

When Cowboys coach Paul Green announced he would be resting co- captain Johnathan Thurston against the Cronulla Sharks in the Cowboys last home game, Winterstein was asked the next day at a player media session how he thought the team would go in his absence.

Only no- one had told Winterstein.

The barnstorming winger sought assurances from a Cowboys staff member that the local media wasn’t making it up and that the star half genuinely wouldn’t be playing. JAKE Granville’s defensive capabilities often get overshadowed by his attacking skills.

But his desperate, lastminute tackle on Benji Marshall during the Cowboys 18- 12 win in round 17 was one occasion where it came to the fore.

But having played more than 70 minutes due to an injury to Antonio Winterstein, Granville said it took all his will and energy to make the game- saving tackle.

“I was a bit buggered and I probably could have tackled him and stopped the play a bit earlier on but I just thought I had better chase him just in case,” he said. “I had to dive to finally get there.” THE Parramatta Eels have had a difficult time playing on the road in Townsville over the years, winning just two and drawing one of their last 10 visits to Townsville dating back to 2000.

The Eels last win in North Queensland came in 2010, a 24- 18 victory in round 7

Prior to that Parra’s last points on the road to North Queensland were a 14- all draw in round 8 2001 and a 20- 6 win in round 17, 2000.

Overall, the Eels have lost five of their last six matches against the Cowboys.