Green’s a winner in all ways

IN HIS seventh season as Cowboys head coach, Paul Green has quite the resume.

A premiership in 2015, grand final in 2017, numerous finals runs and two NRL Nines titles – Green has built a legacy that won’t be forgotten quickly by the Cowboys.

He has been the most successful coach in the club’s 25-year history, and the only one to have a winning rate above 50 per cent.

Green took childhood club WynnumManly to back-to-back Queensland Cup titles before being an assistant to Trent Robinson when the Roosters clinched the 2013 premiership.

That was his first and only year as an assistant coach in the NRL before being given the reins to the Cowboys.

It was a promotion which at the time seemed quick, but those in the know knew what Green brought to the table.

Tonight he surpasses the late, great Graham Murray as the most capped Cowboys coach of all time.

But what’s made Green stand out as a coach who can repeatedly get the job done, even when the side seemed to have their back to the wall?

Is it his connection with his players and the ability he has to get the best from them?

Is it the development of local North Queensland juniors, many of whom have gone on to make their debuts for the Cowboys under his watch?

Is it his meticulous work off the field, studying oppositions and ratifying game plans?

Perhaps it’s a combination of all of the above.

If you ask the man himself, he says the best part of his job is handing young kids their debuts.

Tonight, youngster Hamiso TabuaiFidow will get his first taste of NRL – and boy, can this flyer play.

The Cowboys’ greatest-ever fullback, Matt Bowen, has had the chance to coach Tabuai-fidow, and said the youngster was quicker than he was in his prime.

Let that sink in.