Paul Bowman (rugby league)

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**Paul Bowman**
Personal information

Full name	Paul Bowman
Date of birth	24 January 1976 (1976-01-24) (age 32)
Place of birth	Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	98 kg (15 st 6 lb)
Nickname(s)	Bear
Club information
Position(s)	Centre
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Proserpine Brahmans St Brendan’s College
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1995–2007	North Queensland	203 (250)
Representative teams**
2000–2005	Queensland Maroons	12 (8)
Professional clubs coached
2008 -	North Queensland (Assistant)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 22 September 2007. ** Representative team caps and points correct as of 05 September 2007.

Paul Bowman (born 24 January 1976 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He played his entire career for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League competition. He is the current Cowboys' assistant coach.^[1]

1 Career
- 1.1 Retirement
- 1.2 Coaching Career
2 Statistics
- 2.1 Club Career
- 2.2 Representative Career
3 Career highlights
4 Awards and honours
5 Footnotes
6 External links

[edit] Career

With 203 games, Bowman has played the most games for the Cowboys and was the last player from the Cowboys' inaugural season to be still playing for the club in 2007. Renowned as one of the best defensive centres in the competition, Bowman has also represented Queensland in the State of Origin competition twelve times since 2000. He scored two tries in game III of the 2003 Origin series

Bowman captained the Cowboy's between 2001 and 2004. In game 1 of the 2003 State of Origin series Bowman suffered medial ligament and cartilage damage to his left knee in an awkward tackle that would see him sidelined for four weeks. Remarkably however, despite being unable to walk, he stayed on the field as long as possible, still managing to make several tackles before getting a chance to leave the field.

The Paul Bowman Medal is awarded to each year's best and fairest A-grade player for the Whitsunday Brahmans, Bowman's junior club in North Queensland.^[2]

[edit] Retirement

Bowman retired at the end of the 2007 season, ending a 13-year career with the Cowboys.^[3] Bowman played his last regular season game on 31 August against the Bulldogs in Townsville.

In 2007, the Cowboys announced that the Cowboy of the Year award would be renamed the Paul Bowman Award.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Coaching Career

Following the departure of Graham Murray, assistant coach Ian Millward was named head coach. On the 26th May 2008, Bowman was named assistant coach in a deal to the end of 2010.

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Club Career

Year	Team	Matches	Tries	Goals	Points
1995	North Queensland Cowboys	7	1	0	4
1996	North Queensland Cowboys	6	2	0	8
1997	North Queensland Cowboys	10	2	0	8
1998	North Queensland Cowboys	6	1	0	4
1999	North Queensland Cowboys	16	2	0	8
2000	North Queensland Cowboys	20	8	0	32
2001	North Queensland Cowboys	25	12	0	48
2002	North Queensland Cowboys	14	10	0	40
2003	North Queensland Cowboys	16	3	0	12
2004	North Queensland Cowboys	21	4	0	16
2005	North Queensland Cowboys	25	9	0	36
2006	North Queensland Cowboys	16	3	0	12
2007	North Queensland Cowboys	21	5	1	22

[edit] Representative Career

Year	Team	Matches	Tries	Points
2000	Queensland	3	0	0
2001	Queensland	3	2	8
2003	Queensland	1	0	0
2004	Queensland	2	0	0
2005	Queensland	3	0	0

[edit] Career highlights

First Grade Debut: 1995, Round 16, Cowboys v South Sydney Rabbitohs at Aussie Stadium, 15 July
Runners-up: 2005, member of the Cowboy's team defeated by the Wests Tigers in the 2005 Grand Final

[edit] Awards and honours

1999: North Queensland Cowboys Player of the Year
2000: North Queensland Cowboys Player of the Year
2005: North Queensland Player's Player of the Year
2006: North Queensland Cowboys Life Membership (Bowman was the first person to be awarded life membership of the North Queensland Cowboys)