His playing future is far from certain and North Queensland appear on track to miss the top eight, but returning fullback Matt Bowen says he’s as relaxed as he’s ever been.
Bowen was added to the Cowboys squad to face Manly on Monday night on game day after seven weeks on the sideline following surgery on his troublesome knee.
The 31-year-old is in the final year of his contract, and the Cowboys are expected to look at a range of factors including medical reports and the player’s chances of enduring another season in the competition before offering the club legend another deal.
But Bowen said he wasn’t thinking about his future and was simply happy being back in the playing squad.
Despite pulling up a little bit sore after the game, the former Queensland custodian was taking a relaxed approach to his game.
“I was just enjoying it more,” Bowen said.
“If I can stay on the paddock and get the knee right I’ll obviously keep going.
“Every game I appreciate being out there and I love pulling the jumper on and I just want to enjoy it a bit more.”
Cowboys coach Neil Henry said the diminutive fullback’s form at training the two sessions before the match gave him the confidence to hand Bowen back his spot and he had delivered a “mixed bag” in his first match back.
“We had the GPS on him and he was getting up to his speed,” Henry said.
“More importantly he felt good about loading up his knee so he was able to do a running session and back it up the next day and then on day three feel that he was okay.
“He came and said to me `I’m sweet’ so I told him we’d give him an opportunity to play and I’m glad to see him out of the park.”
Bowen’s addition to the squad was a welcome boost for a side missing State of Origin stars Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott, Brent Tate and James Tamou. But despite a vintage Bowen dummy to score the team’s first try from the 262-game veteran, the Cowboys went down 34-14.
With a bye next week and the Origin quartet hopefully available for next match against the Broncos, Bowen was confident the Cowboys could do the improbable and qualify for a finals spot.
“We can’t sort of drop more games and we’re looking forward to winning now and obviously get on a roll if we can,” he said.
“In saying that, I think more teams we play now are going to be in the top-eight but it’s a big challenge and I’m sure we’ve got the squad to do it.”
