Hess earns an appetite for success
DEBBIE Hess knows what it takes to fuel the North Queensland Cowboys’ success.
And in the case of her 21year- old son Coen Hess – the hulking 190cm and 111kg Cowboys enforcer – it’s an awful lot of food.
“He likes to eat the biggest steak he can find with a bit of broccoli and sweet potato,” Debbie said.
“Or a big bowl of spaghetti. He’s always been a big eater.”
From his cereal for breakfast to Mum’s home- cooked meals for dinner, Hess’s day revolves around food, training and sleep.
But he disagrees with Mum’s assessment that likes a big dinner.
“I’m not overly what I eat,” he said.
“I know how my body works and what I need to eat.
“I wouldn’t say I have massive meals. I just like to eat lots of times with small meals, instead of three big meals.”
The club’s nutritionists and high- performance trainers tailor programs for each player to build on strengths and identify weaknesses.
North Queensland Cowboys high- performance manager Paul Bowman said the club worked hard to develop each player to their potential.
“We’re just trying to make them the best athlete that we can I suppose,” Mr Bowman his he strict on said. “That’s all facets of their physical ability: strength, speed, power, durability.
“Each individual has their strengths and weaknesses so basically I’ll try and maintain their strengths and build on them if we can but also identify the weaknesses or limitations that they have.
“The program is really individualised. We all train together but everyone has subtleties and differences from the next guy in terms of what he needs and what he can do.”
Mr Bowman said nutrition and fluid intake for each player was monitored by the club through apps, skinfolds and DEXA ( whole body scanning system) scans.
“If a player is too heavy or needs to eat more calories to gain lean muscle, the club tailors a diet for them,” he said.
Coen made his Queensland debut this year and mum Debbie is happy to keep fuelling his success.
“Coen has grown up running around the yards out at Mount Isa and playing plenty of sport so that’s all paid off now,” Debbie said.