North Queensland Cowboys: Round 1 Team Comparison

It must be a luxury for a coach to have a team basically select itself and North Queensland Cowboys coach Paul Green seems to have that luxury.

The Cowboys finished the 2016 regular season in fourth and went deep into the Finals before eventually losing to the Cronulla Sharks in the Grand Final qualifier.

2016 Round 1 Team

The Cowboys will enter 2017 missing two important pieces from previous years. Bench utility Rory Kostjasyn moved to the Newcastle Knights while prop forward James Tamou signed with the Penrith Panthers.

The club was quick to replace Kostjasyn by signing Ben Hampton from the Melbourne Storm and Hampton should take over the bench utility role in 2017.

Replacing Tamou though hasn't quite eventuated though and the club was hit even harder in the depth department when Ben Hannant was forced to retire due to injury.

With 2016 Dally M Player of the Year Jason Taumalolo and Queensland Origin prop Matt Scott leading the pack, the Cowboys should still have plenty of go forward in 2017.

Not to mention any team with Johnathan Thurston in the lineup will have more than a good chance of winning games. When you surround him with the talent the Cowboys have, it just makes winning matches that much more likely.