GO COWBOYS
GAME DAY GUIDE
MICHAEL Morgan doesn’t expect the captaincy to change the way he plays as he leads the Cowboys into a new era.
Morgan is the first Townsville-born player to captain the club after being officially given the honour at last Friday’s season launch, with prop Jordan Mclean (pictured left) to serve as vice-captain.
The Iggy Park product takes over the reins from retired great Johnathan Thurston, who had shared the captaincy role with veteran prop Matt Scott since 2011.
They’re big shoes to fill after Thurston and Scott steered the Cowboys to their maiden grand final victory in 2015, but Morgan said he was happy to forge his own path as captain.
“I know it comes with more responsibility, but I don’t want to be changing what I do or what I’ve done in the past,” Morgan said.
“I know that things might be expected of me, but I do expect a lot of myself anyway so that type of thing doesn’t bother me too much.
“I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing, what’s got me here, and if things change along the way hopefully I can deal with it.”
Scott will remain part of the leadership group and Morgan was comfortable he won’t be thrown in the deep end as the new captain.
“I feel like I am ready for it, but I’m lucky that I have a great leadership group with me with ‘Macca’ being vice-captain and Matt Scott’s still playing, and Gav Cooper, Jason Taumalolo, John Asiata,” he said.
“We have a number of guys who are very good leaders and have very different styles of leadership as well.
“I’m still in close contact with ‘JT’ as well, so if ever I need a hand with anything there’s a number of guys I can ask.”
“It’s an exciting time for the club, everyone talks about the post JT era, but I’m hopeful we all go well.”
Coach Paul Green said it was a special moment to be able to name a local junior as Cowboys captain and he was confident that Morgan was the right player for the job.
“It is a privilege when you see guys develop the way Michael has and to be able to give him that opportunity to lead the club is rewarding as a coach,” Green said.
“Whilst he wasn’t captain when ‘JT’ and Matt Scott were out during that 2017 season, I thought Michael led the team well given the position he was in playing halfback. I think he led by example.
“He’s only going to get better at that so it’s important he gets his own style.”