End comes quickly for beloved champ
A QUESTION mark surrounds Kurtley Beale’s availability for the NSW Waratahs game against the Jaguares next weekend after he suffered a rib injury in their 24- 24 Super Rugby draw with the Sharks.
Beale didn’t play the second half of the game in Durban but wasn’t immediately ruled out of the second leg of their international trip.
The Wallabies’ back will travel to Argentina and be assessed during the week in the lead- up to the game in Buenos Aires next Sunday morning.
Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson praised the fight in his side but slammed them for a poor performance after they produced a barnstorming finish for a second straight week.
NSW led 7- 0 after an early converted try to starting half back Jake Gordon but the visitors twice trailed by seven in the second half.
Both teams scored three tries in a scrappy, mistakemarred match in which neither side ever led by more than seven points. A 76th- minute try to replacement halfback and debutant Mitch Short from a devastating long range counter- attack, followed by a sideline conversion from fiveeighth Bernard Foley earned NSW the draw.
Gibson acknowledged their scrum came under pressure in the second half but felt his tight five did an excellent job.
But he was unhappy with the Tahs’ overall performance.
“I thought we were pretty poor tonight, to be frank,” Gibson said. “At times we lacked ball control, we turned the ball over too much and put a lot of pressure on ourselves.
“We’re not walking away rejoicing at all. What I am pleased about with the team is around the fight in our team, we don’t give up.” ONE of North Queensland’s top footy stalwarts has called it a day ahead of the upcoming Townsville and Districts Rugby League season.
Four- time TDRL grand final winner and former Queensland Cup player of the year Nathaniel Bowman has retired from rugby league at age 35.
Playing his A grade TDRL game for local club Brothers at age 17, Bowman quickly started making his presence felt on the local footy scene, winning Foley Shield titles in 2002- 03, making Queensland Rangers and then earning a Queensland Cup debut for the NQ Young Guns at 19.
He played 96 games for the CQ Comets in a decorated Q Cup career that included winning the league’s best and fairest in 2008, and captaining the Comets to their first finals appearance the following year.
He won three Foley Shield titles in total and scored his last TDRL premierships with University and then Brothers in 2012 and 2014, and remained a dominant force right up until his final season last year when he finished as the A grade competition's highest pointscorer.
So it came as a shock to friends and teammates when Bowman said that after 18 years of senior footy he wasn’t coming back.
“I pretty much had to do it,” Bowman said.
“It was my feet of all things, that’s what made me say I couldn’t go on.
“A few years ago at the Broncos I was having boots fitted and they said they would have to change all my soles because my feet are very flat.
“I really didn’t think much of it after that, but then midway through last year I started getting pain in my achilles and it didn’t go away.
“I’ve also been playing with a shoulder that's been giving me a bit of pain, so I just felt it was the time.
“Now I want to go into some coaching, and ever since I started playing senior footy I haven’t had a year off.”
Bowman did concede he would get itchy feet when the TDRL rolls around again, with the season proper starting after Easter.
“My partner said I was playing good footy and asked why I was calling it a day, so have a few teammates, so I guess it might be a bit tough at first,” he said.
“But there’s other priorities in my life now, and I'm really happy to be moving into coaching.
“I’m coaching the girls’ under- 14 Stingers team, so that’s what I’m doing for now, and also I’ll be an assistant for Townsville City in this year’s Foley Shield.
“One thing I enjoyed was passing on advice to younger players; even some opposition players came up to me sometimes and asked for some advice.
“It’s a good, close competition and I hope it stays that way.”
Bowman is confident the TDRL is heading in the right direction.
“I think having the Foley Shield returning to the local level was very important," Bowman said.
“Having the Townsville Blackhawks here has also been very beneficial for the league community here.
“When we didn’t have a Q Cup team here players like Matty Seamamark and Chey Bird had to move away, but players don’t necessarily have to do that anymore. “The big key is numbers. “We need to maintain a good number of clubs in our competition.”
TDRL chairman Ross Anderson paid tribute to Bowman’s playing career.
“He’s a great mentor, and great leader and a great competitor,” he said.
“He’s had a tremendous playing career and it’s great for the league that he will remain involved with his coaching.”