Tough North Queensland forward Ricky Thorby does his best talking on the football field.

The 26-year-old, who hails from the same New Zealand city of Palmerston North as teammate James Tamou, wasn’t giving much away after scoring a new two-year NRL deal with the Cowboys on Wednesday as a reward for some strong displays this season.

“What I set out to do this year was to try and get another contract,” said the 101kg Thorby, who’s played 14 NRL games since making his debut for the club against Canberra in round five this season.

Fortunately coach Neil Henry is more interested in Thorby’s toughness and ability to make hard metres than he is in the conversational skills of the quietly-spoken forward.

Thorby stepped up for the Cowboys during the recent State of Origin series when the club was without their two representative props – Queensland’s Matt Scott and NSW’s Tamou.

He notched a season-high 119 metres against South Sydney in round eight and backed it up during the Origin period.

“Ricky has seen the results of a lot of hard work and everyone at the club is happy that he’s had such a good season with us this year,” Cowboys general manager Peter Parr said.

“He’s become a regular in our forward pack and we believe that will continue to be the case for the next two years.”

Thorby, who played 21 games for St George Illawarra under Wayne Bennett, was grateful the Cowboys had given him a chance.

“They showed some faith in me a couple of years ago and hopefully I can return the favour,” he said.

“The Cowboys are a great club to be at.

“You can tell we are moving in a positive direction and that there are good times ahead.”

North Queensland’s place in the top four goes on the line at the weekend against Manly who are also on 26 premiership points but in sixth place.