# 1995 North Queensland Cowboys season

The 1995 North Queensland Cowboys season was the first in the club's history. Coached by Grant Bell and captained by Laurie Spina, they competed in the ARL Premiership.

## Season summary

Two years after being admitted into Australia's premier rugby league competition, the North Queensland Cowboys played their first official premiership game on Saturday, March 11. Led by inaugural captain and Ingham local Laurie Spina, the club faced the Sydney Bulldogs in front of a crowd of 23,156 at Stockland Stadium. There was no fairy tale beginning for the club, as centre Adrian Vowles was sent off for a high shot six minutes into the match and the Bulldogs won the game 32-16. Teenage fullback Damian Gibson, who was making his first grade debut, scored the club's first premiership try.
The club found little success during their debut season in the premiership. They began the season with seven straight losses before picking up their first ever win against the Illawarra Steelers at Steelers Stadium in Round 8. A six-game losing streak followed, which was then snapped in Round 15, when the club recorded their first ever home win, defeating the Western Suburbs Magpies. It would be the last time the club enjoyed victory that season, as they ended the year with seven consecutive losses. The Cowboys finished 1995 in 20th place, winning the dreaded wooden spoon, with just two wins from 22 games.
Former Eastern Suburbs Roosters prop Wayne Sing, who played 20 games, was named Player of the Year and Players' Player at the end of the season. The Cowboys would also have three players participate in the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. Jonathan Davies (a former Welsh rugby union international) and Kevin Ellis (who spent the entire season in reserve grade) both represented Wales, while Robert Piva (a recruit from Wakefield Trinity) represented Western Samoa.
Perhaps the one bright spot from the Cowboys' inaugural season was the debut of young Proserpine centre Paul Bowman. Bowman, who played seven games in 1995, would go onto captain the club and play 203 games over 13 seasons. Following his retirement in 2007, the club renamed their Player of the Year award the Paul Bowman Medal in his honour. He would join the club's coaching staff as an assistant coach and later their high performance manager, being on the staff for their NRL Premiership and 2016 World Club Challenge winning sides.

### Milestones

* Round 1: The club played their first premiership game (losing 16-32 to the Canterbury Bulldogs).
* Round 1: Damian Gibson scored the club's first try.
* Round 1: Damian Gibson and Ian Dunemann made their first grade debuts.
* Round 2: David Maiden made his first grade debut.
* Round 3: Glen Murphy made his first grade debut.
* Round 4: Steven Holmes and Justin Loomans made their first grade debuts.
* Round 5: Peter Jones made his first grade debut.
* Round 7: Justin Loomans became the first player to score two tries in a match for the club.
* Round 8: The club won their first game (def. Illawarra Steelers 14-10).
* Round 14: Michael Hogue made his first grade debut.
* Round 15: Faron Anderson and Reggie Cressbrook made their first grade debuts.
* Round 15: The club won their first home game, and scored 30 points in a match for the first time.
* Round 16: Paul Bowman made his first grade debut.
* Round 19: Ray Blackman made his first grade debut.
* Round 20: Aaron Ketchell made his first grade debut.
* Round 22: Andrew Meads and Noel Slade made their first grade debuts.

## Squad movement
### 1995 Gains

| Player | Signed From |
| George Bartlett | North Sydney Bears |
| Martin Bella | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs |
| David Bouveng | Gold Coast Seagulls |
| Shane Christensen | Newcastle Knights |
| Jonathan Davies | Warrington Wolves |
| Kevin Ellis | Warrington Wolves |
| Jason Erba | Brisbane Broncos |
| Paul Galea | Gold Coast Seagulls |
| Damian Gibson | Newcastle Knights |
| Leigh Groves | Gold Coast Seagulls |
| Jason Martin | Newcastle Knights |
| Jamie Mathiou | North Sydney Bears |
| Craig Menkins | Western Suburbs Magpies |
| Willie Morganson | Brisbane Broncos |
| Paul Morris | Brisbane Broncos |
| Robert Piva | Wakefield Trinity |
| Ian Russell | Illawarra Steelers |
| Dean Schifilliti | South Sydney Rabbitohs |
| Bruce Sinclair | Eastern Suburbs Roosters |
| Wayne Sing | Eastern Suburbs Roosters |
| John Skardon | Gold Coast Seagulls |
| Noel Solomon | North Sydney Bears |
| Laurie Spina | Herbert River Crushers |
| Craig Teitzel | Warrington Wolves |
| Adrian Vowles | Gold Coast Seagulls |
| Andrew Whittington | Gold Coast Seagulls |

## Ladder

| | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 22 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 687 | 248 | +439 | 40 |
| 2 | Canberra Raiders | 22 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 634 | 255 | +379 | 40 |
| 3 | Brisbane Broncos | 22 | 17 | 0 | 5 | 600 | 364 | +236 | 34 |
| 4 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 22 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 516 | 287 | +229 | 32 |
| 5 | Newcastle Knights | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 549 | 396 | +153 | 30 |
| 6 | Sydney Bulldogs (P) | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 468 | 352 | +116 | 28 |
| 7 | St. George Dragons | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 583 | 382 | +201 | 26 |
| 8 | North Sydney Bears | 22 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 542 | 331 | +211 | 24 |
| 9 | Sydney City Roosters | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 466 | 406 | +60 | 24 |
| 10 | Auckland Warriors | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 544 | 493 | +51 | 24 |
| 11 | Western Reds | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 361 | 549 | -188 | 22 |
| 12 | Illawarra Steelers | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 519 | 431 | +88 | 21 |
| 13 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 459 | 534 | -75 | 20 |
| 14 | Penrith Panthers | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 481 | 484 | -3 | 18 |
| 15 | Sydney Tigers | 22 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 309 | 591 | -282 | 14 |
| 16 | South Queensland Crushers | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 303 | 502 | -199 | 13 |
| 17 | Gold Coast Seagulls | 22 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 350 | 628 | -278 | 9 |
| 18 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 22 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 319 | 686 | -367 | 9 |
| 19 | Parramatta Eels | 22 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 310 | 690 | -380 | 6 |
| 20 | North Queensland Cowboys | 22 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 269 | 660 | -391 | 4 |
* Auckland Warriors were stripped of 2 competition points due to exceeding the replacement limit in round 3.

## Fixtures
### Regular season

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Score | Tries | Goals | Attendance |
| 11 March | Round 1 | Sydney Bulldogs | Stockland Stadium | 16 – 32 | Gibson, Groves | Dunemann (3/4), Gibson (1/1) | 23,156 |
| 19 March | Round 2 | Sydney City Roosters | Sydney Football Stadium | 16 – 34 | Bouveng, Galea, Mathiou | Duneman (2/3) | 6,585 |
| 26 March | Round 3 | Sydney Tigers | Parramatta Stadium | 16 – 38 | Bouveng, Galea, Morganson | Duneman (2/4) | 5,424 |
| 1 April | Round 4 | Canberra Raiders | Stockland Stadium | 8 – 14 | Bartlett, Bouveng | Vowles (0/2) | 23,561 |
| 8 April | Round 5 | Brisbane Broncos | Stockland Stadium | 12 – 20 | Galea, Loomans, Spina | Jones (0/1), Vowles (0/3) | 24,855 |
| 16 April | Round 6 | North Sydney Bears | North Sydney Oval | 6 – 60 | Morganson | Vowles (1/1) | 6,707 |
| 22 April | Round 7 | Manly Sea Eagles | Stockland Stadium | 14 – 36 | Loomans (2), Bouveng | Holmes (1/3) | 22,167 |
| 30 April | Round 8 | Illawarra Steelers | Steelers Stadium | 14 – 10 | Bouveng (2), Vowles | Vowles (1/2), Holmes (0/2) | 8,914 |
| 6 May | Round 9 | Parramatta Eels | Parramatta Stadium | 4 – 20 | Bouveng | Vowles (0/1) | 4,145 |
| 20 May | Round 10 | Sydney City Roosters | Stockland Stadium | 16 – 20 | Loomans (2), Bouveng | Davies (2/5) | 20,860 |
| 4 June | Round 11 | Newcastle Knights | Marathon Stadium | 14 – 44 | Christensen, Davies, Gibson | Davies (1/3) | 15,577 |
| 10 June | Round 12 | Cronulla Sharks | Caltex Field | 10 – 34 | Loomans, Martin | Holmes (1/1), Morganson (0/1) | 5,128 |
| 24 June | Round 13 | Sydney Tigers | Stockland Stadium | 14 – 28 | Dunemann, Loomans | Davies (3/5) | 20,113 |
| 1 July | Round 14 | Penrith Panthers | Penrith Stadium | 10 – 40 | Bouveng | Davies (3/3) | 5,774 |
| 8 July | Round 15 | Western Suburbs Magpies | Stockland Stadium | 31 – 12 | Bartlett, Dunemann, Gibson, Martin, Skardon | Davies (5/6, 1 FG) | 18,112 |
| 15 July | Round 16 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Sydney Football Stadium | 16 – 30 | Loomans (2), Galea | Cressbrook (1/1), Davies (1/3) | 4,225 |
| 22 July | Round 17 | Gold Coast Seagulls | Stockland Stadium | 8 – 10 | Martin | Davies (2/2) | 20,067 |
| 29 July | Round 18 | Auckland Warriors | Stockland Stadium | 10 – 28 | Jones, Vowles | Davies (1/2) | 23,521 |
| 6 August | Round 19 | South Queensland Crushers | Suncorp Stadium | 6 – 22 | Bowman | Davies (1/2) | 17,105 |
| 12 August | Round 20 | Western Reds | Stockland Stadium | 10 – 12 | Blackman, Jones | Cressbrook (1/3) | 19,675 |
| 20 August | Round 21 | St George Dragons | Stockland Stadium | 14 – 50 | Skardon, Vowles | Cressbrook (3/3) | 22,283 |
| 27 August | Round 22 | Sydney Bulldogs | Belmore Oval | 4 – 66 | Skardon | Cressbrook (0/1) | 18,818 |
| Legend: Win Loss Draw Bye ||||||||

## Statistics

| Name | App | T | G | FG | Pts |
| Faron Anderson | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| George Bartlett | 21 | 2 | - | - | 8 |
| Martin Bella | 14 | - | - | - | - |
| Ray Blackman | 3 | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| David Bouveng | 16 | 9 | - | - | 36 |
| Paul Bowman | 7 | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Shane Christensen | 10 | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Reggie Cressbrook | 8 | - | 5 | - | 10 |
| Jonathan Davies | 9 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 43 |
| Ian Dunemann | 13 | 2 | 7 | - | 22 |
| Jason Erba | 5 | - | - | - | - |
| Paul Galea | 19 | 4 | - | - | 16 |
| Damian Gibson | 20 | 3 | 1 | - | 14 |
| Leigh Groves | 17 | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Michael Hogue | 4 | - | - | - | - |
| Steven Holmes | 5 | - | 2 | - | 4 |
| Peter Jones | 12 | 2 | - | - | 8 |
| Aaron Ketchell | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| Justin Loomans | 16 | 9 | - | - | 36 |
| David Maiden | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Jason Martin | 8 | 3 | - | - | 12 |
| Jamie Mathiou | 7 | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Andrew Meads | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Craig Menkins | 4 | - | - | - | - |
| Willie Morganson | 8 | 2 | - | - | 8 |
| Paul Morris | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Glen Murphy | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Robert Piva | 9 | - | - | - | - |
| Ian Russell | 11 | - | - | - | - |
| Dean Schifilliti | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Bruce Sinclair | 11 | - | - | - | - |
| Wayne Sing | 20 | - | - | - | - |
| John Skardon | 16 | 3 | - | - | 12 |
| Noel Slade | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Noel Solomon | 6 | - | - | - | - |
| Laurie Spina | 13 | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Craig Teitzel | 12 | - | - | - | - |
| Adrian Vowles | 20 | 3 | 2 | - | 16 |
| Andrew Whittington | 11 | - | - | - | - |
| Totals | | 49 | 36 | 1 | 269 |
Source:

## Representatives

The following players played a representative match in 1995.
| | World Cup |
| Jonathan Davies | Wales |
| Kevin Ellis | Wales |
| Robert Piva | Western Samoa |

## Honours
### Club

* Player of the Year: Wayne Sing
* Players' Player: Wayne Sing
* Club Person of the Year: Paul Galea