COWBOYS EYE TACKLE BUSTER

COWBOYS are entrenched in the race for the signature of Blues hopeful Jesse Ramien after he parted ways with the Knights last week.

One of the most damaging ballrunners in the NRL, Ramien burst on to the scene last season with Cronulla before signing a big-time contract with the Knights in the offseason.

But a styles clash with coach Nathan Brown has left the centre on the hunt for a new home in 2020.

It was rumoured Ramien would meet with the Cowboys in the near future, and the club’s director of football, Peter Parr, confirmed they would talk with his agent, Pacific Sports Management’s Chris Orr.

Orr also manages Cowboys superstar Jason Taumalolo, John Asiata and recent recruit Scott Drinkwater.

“We’re looking for an outside back if we can find one, (and) he would be a guy that has a lot of potential,” Parr said.

“We will talk to his agent. We need to do our own due diligence first.

“If Jesse is playing to his ability, he will be a good acquisition.”

While he has struggled to find the ball on the Knights’ right edge this season, it has not taken away from Ramien’s ball-running ability sitting in the top three tackle busters with James Tedesco and Roger TuivasaSheck.

Ramien would have faced the Cowboys in this weekend’s clash at Mcdonald Jones Stadium but, in a twist of fate, could find himself at the club’s Townsville base next season.

It was widely reported Ramien and Brown had come to loggerheads this season, but the player refused to be brought into a slanging match in his first interview post exit with NITV program Over The Black Dot.

“At the end of the day, it didn’t work out,” Ramien said. “Their style of play and my style of play didn’t click as much as we would have liked it to.

“It’s a great club, not a bad thing to say about the club and I got on great with all the boys there.”

Parr said Ramien’s mid-season exit from the Knights was not of major concern for the Cowboys.

“There is two sides to every story, and it wouldn’t be the first time a player and a club have got together and it hasn’t worked out,” he said.

While they will look to their local playing stocks first, Parr said the club would make a move for an external player if it was the “right fit for the club”.