Top player, great bloke calls it quits
IT was sad to see my teammate Antonio Winterstein announce his retirement from rugby league this week, and it’s always much tougher when it’s not expected.
Tones has been a huge part of our team for a few years now and is a very professional and consistent rugby league player.
He receives a lot of respect from teammates for the amount of work he does, and whenever we’re coming out of our own half he always puts his hands up to start our sets.
He might be quietly spoken, but when Tones has something to say we all listen and we hold his opinions very highly.
I know it would have been a tough decision for Tones to make, but for him it was the right time and we can’t thank Tones enough for all he has done for our club.
He came up to Townsville looking for an opportunity to play more firstgrade and took it with both hands, and now other players have the same opportunity to achieve what Tones has.
Someone like Gideon GelaMosby, who has had a few challenges in the last few months but came out the other side, is a player who could follow in Tones’ footsteps.
Tones will remain with the team for the rest of the season and he’ll keep training with us, which the whole playing group will really enjoy.
A big congratulations has to go to Matt Scott and Jordan McLean for their return to the team tonight.
They have done a lot of work to be available to play tonight, and Jordan has completed his recovery ahead of schedule, which shows how much time and dedication he has put into his recovery.
I’m sure they will bring a lot of impact into tonight’s game, and for Corey Jensen there's an opportunity to go to the Townsville Blackhawks and be a real leader there.
Our former teammate Kalyn Ponga also returns to 1300SMILES Stadium tonight, and he’s still mates with a lot of guys in our playing group.
I'm sure Kalyn’s coming up here waiting to put in a good performance and we’ll have to be on our game to contain him.
He might be a familiar face and we used to train and play alongside him, but he’s a very intuitive player and it’s hard to know what he’ll do.
For us it’s not too surprising how well Kalyn has played this year, but we’re looking forward to the challenge and expecting a very good game tonight. Enjoy the game tonight and go Cowboys!