Matt Bowen

This article is about the Rugby league Player. For the American football player, see Matt Bowen (American football).

Matt Bowen

Bowen in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Matthew Jeremy Bowen
Born	(1982-03-09) 9 March 1982 Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	84 kg (13 st 3 lb)
Playing information
Position	Fullback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2001– North Queensland 228 134 107 7 580 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2003–07 Queensland 10 4 1 0 20 2004 Australia 7 13 3 1 61
Source: NRL Stats, [1],[2] As of 14 June 2011

Matthew Jeremy "Matt" Bowen (born 8 March 1982 in Cairns, Queensland) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the North Queensland Cowboys of the National Rugby League. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative fullback, he has played his entire NRL career to date with the Cowboys, twice topping the League's top try-scorers list.

Early days

Bowen's love for the game grew from his upbringing in the remote Cape York town of Hopevale, Queensland. With his cousin Brenton Bowen he started his junior playing career with both Souths Hopevale and playing for his school, Abergowrie College. Impressing many with his pace, agility and ability, he was duly selected in the Queensland Schoolboys in 1999, Queensland Under 19's in 2000 and the Junior Kangaroos in 2001.In 2001,Bowen started playing for North Queensland Cowboys

North Queensland Cowboys

Bowen, an Australian indigenous rugby league player, was signed by the North Queensland Cowboys in his teens and made his first grade debut on 17 February 2001 against state rivals the Brisbane Broncos at Dairy Farmers Stadium. He made his State of Origin debut for Queensland in Game II of the 2003 series.

Bowen finished the 2004 season on a high by being selected for Australia for the Tri-Nations Tour to England. While he did not play an official Test match, he played fullback for the ANZACs (against Cumbria), for Australia against France, and again against the USA in the match at Philadelphia on the return leg of the tour. During this game, a fatigued Australian side that had conquered England and played a lengthy representative and club season were losing to the United States and used Bowen from the bench who scored three tries, resulting in eventual victory for the Australian side. Bowen thus became the first North Queensland Cowboys player to represent Australia.

In the 2005 State of Origin series Bowen proved to be the game-breaker in the first match. After coming off the bench in the second half, he intercepted a pass from New South Wales Half-Back Brett Kimmorley and ran 40m to score in Extra Time, thus winning the game for Queensland. Bowen would also score tries in the second and third game of the series and would gain a starting selection for Game 3 before being dropped after Game 1 of the 2006 Series.

In the 2005 NRL season, Bowen was at the top of the try-scorers list with 21. He, combined with player of the year Johnathan Thurston, lead a young Cowboys side to the Grand final, eventually falling short in a 30–16 loss to the Wests Tigers.

In 2006, Bowen gained starting selection for the Queensland team. After scoring the most tries in 2005 (21) he scored only a low 5 in 2006.

In 2007, Bowen displayed the attacking brilliance he is renowned for which resulted in him leading the NRL in tries scored (22), line breaks (32) and tackle breaks (220) some 44 above his nearest rival Wade McKinnon of the Warriors with 176. After being not selected for the first 2 games of the 2007 State of Origin series, his form was rewarded on 30 June 2007 with a late call up to replace the injured Jacob Lillyman in the final game of the series. He was named the Cowboys' player of the year in 2007.

In 2008, Bowen started the season slowly. He missed Rounds 4 and 5 due to ongoing knee problems from 2007. He returned in Round 6 against the New Zealand Warriors and scored 3 tries. Injury has plagued Bowen again and in Round 8 played in the Cowboys loss to South Sydney Rabbitohs. Bowen was a last minute inclusion in the team due to amount of players already out due to injury. That would be his last game of the 2008 season. He is scheduled to undergo surgery on his troublesome knee and will return for the Cowboys in 2009.

On 31 July 2009, Bowen scored his 100th and 101st NRL tries at Skilled Park in a two try effort helping the Cowboys beat the Gold Coast Titans.

Bowen had to have another knee operation on the other leg, which put him out of action until Round 9 of the 2010 NRL season.

In round 4 of the 2011 NRL season, Bowen broke Paul Bowman's record for most games with the North Queensland Cowboys.

Achievements

Individual

2005: Leading tryscorer (21)
2007: Leading tryscorer (22)
2007: Dally M Fullback of the Year
2007: Rugby League Professionals Association's Player of the Year
2007: Cowboys' Player of the Year
2007: North Queensland Player's Player of the Year Cowboys Player Of The Year 2004 Dally M Fullback Of The Year 2004

2011: North Queensland Most games played for the North Queensland Cowboys (204 games). In his 204th game, Bowen lead the Cowboys onto the field against the Parramatta Eels. Cowboys would lose this game, 22-20.

Team

2005: NRL Grand Final – North Queensland Cowboys – Runners-up

Dally M Fullback Of The Year 2006 Cowboys Player Of The Year 2003

External links

• Bowen @ Cowboys.com.au
• Template:StateofOrigin player
• Matt Bowen at the Former Origin Greats website.
• Matthew Bowen at nqsports.com.au
• Matt Bowen at the SportingPulse Homepage for Northern Division