Matt Bowen
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Matt Bowen
Personal information
Full name	Matthew Jeremy Bowen
Nickname	Matty, Mango
Born	9 March 1982 (1982-03-09) (age 26)
	Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	78 kg (12 st 4 lb)
Playing information
Position	Full-Back / Halfback / Centre
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2001–	North Queensland	165	89	11	3	381
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2003–2007	Queensland	10	4	0	0	16
2004	Australia	1	0	0	1	1
As of 22 August 2008
Source: NRL Stats

Matthew Bowen, (also known as Matt Bowen), (born 9 March 1982 in Cairns, Queensland) is an Australian professional rugby league player for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League competition. His position of choice is at fullback. Bowen has also been selected for the Queensland Maroons and Australia.

Playing career

Bowen's love for the game grew from his upbringing in the remote Cape York town of Hopevale, under the guidance of his father and mother who watched him playing football, fishing, riding horses, and playing marbles. With his cousin Brenton Bowen started his junior playing career with both Souths in Townsville 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. Despite his early athletic achievements, he was always told he was too small, and coaches typically felt he was too light-weight to play in the major leagues.^{citation needed} However, Bowen has proven that he is able to overcome this handicap through his lightning-fast footwork and incredible acceleration. He is notorious for using a right-foot sidestep which has bamboozled his opponents on many occasions, leading to his prolific try-scoring ability^{citation needed}. However, he has also proven himself to possess a hard hit in defence when it is required.

North Queensland Cowboys

Bowen was signed by the North Queensland Cowboys in his teens and made his first grade debut on February 17, 2001 against state rivals the Brisbane Broncos at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

In 2005, Bowen was at the top of the try-scorers list with 21.^{citation needed} 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. Bowen was again added to the tour of England but was not used in a controversial decision^{citation needed}.

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.^{citation needed} After being not selected for the first 2 games of the 2007 Rugby League 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.

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 competition easy beats South Sydney Rabbitohs. Bowen was a last minute inclusion in the team due to amount of players already out due to injury. Bowen was visibly bothered by his knee and was a shadow of his former self. 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.

Representative career

He 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 proved to be the game-breaker in the first match of the 2005 Rugby League State of Origin series. 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 and would gain a starting selection for Game 3 before being dropped after Game 1 of the 2006 Series.

In 2007, Bowen was used off the bench in game three of the state of origin series, there were many casualties during this game and Bowen would see much playing time being used at fullback in attack and on the wing in defense.

Statistics

Club career

Year	Team	Matches	Tries	Goals	Field Goals	Points
2001	North Queensland Cowboys	15	6	1	0	26
2002	North Queensland Cowboys	24	12	5	0	58
2003	North Queensland Cowboys	20	9	5	0	46
2004	North Queensland Cowboys	23	11	0	0	44
2005	North Queensland Cowboys	25	20	0	0	80
2006	North Queensland Cowboys	24	5	0	0	20
2007	North Queensland Cowboys	27	22	0	3	91
2008	North Queensland Cowboys	6	3	0	0	12

Representative career

Year	Team	Matches	Tries	Goals	Field Goals	Points
2003	Queensland	2	0	0	0	0
2004	Queensland	3	1	0	0	4
2004	Australia	1	0	0	0	0
2005	Queensland	3	3	0	0	12
2006	Queensland	1	0	0	0	0
2007	Queensland	1	0	0	0	0

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

Team

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

External links

• Bowen @ Cowboys.com.au
• Matt Bowen at the State of Origin official website.
• Matt Bowen at the Former Origin Greats website.
• Matthew Bowen at nqsports.com.au