Bowen‘s surprise at captaincy for Pride

TWELVE months ago he was preparing to line up on the wing in the Cowboys’ season opener. This week Javid Bowen will take on a new task with almost as much importance.

The former Cowboy will lead Intrust Super Cup side Northern Pride out of the tunnel next weekend after the 26year-old was named captain for 2020 at the club’s season launch on Saturday.

Bowen was one of the club’s best when they last won the Intrust Super Cup in 2014 and he would love nothing more than to lead the Northern Pride to another premiership.

Bowen admitted he wasn’t expecting to get the nod, but said he was grateful and proud to become only the eighth captain of the club.

“To be honest, when the coach told me I was a bit surprised,” he said. “But I’m definitely looking forward to taking on that role. I guess I’ve been around for a while and a lot of the younger fellas look up to me in some way.

“I probably don’t say that much at training or in games, but I try to lead by my actions.”

The nephew of Cowboys great Matty Bowen, the winger scored 10 tries in 36 games for the Cowboys after making his NRL debut in 2016.

For coach Ty Williams, the decision to name the former North Queensland Cowboy as captain came down to his NRL experience and his history of success in a Pride jersey.

“I think that’s the key thing, especially for our young playing group,” he said.

“The boys know what Jango’s done and I think that reflects on why he’s a leader within our organisation.”

Williams said he expected Bowen to thrive off the extra responsibility and would hopefully use his captaincy to take his game to the next level.

“We’ll do a lot of work with him, with what we’re doing, but I’m excited to see what it exposes,” he said.

“He’s a natural footballer, he’s gifted on the field, but off the field there’s a few things we need to work on. I think if we can expose that, he’s going to be a good leader for our club.”