North Queensland Cowboys hand Curtis Rona his NRL debut for the clash with Manly

CURTIS Rona has taken the long road to his NRL debut, but the North Queensland Cowboys knew the giant winger would get to this point eventually.

A flying Curtis Rona scores during the Auckland Nines. Pic. Mark Evans

CURTIS Rona has taken the long road to his NRL debut, but the North Queensland Cowboys knew the giant winger would get to this point eventually.

Born in Waitara in New Zealand but raised in Perth, Rona was dreaming of a career in Super rugby until the Sydney Roosters offered him a contract at the age of 17.

A You Tube video clip shows just how damaging the 194cm and 102kg winger can be when you combine his size with pace, terrorising the opposition as a Roosters centre in the under 20s competition.

Lack of first grade opportunities at Bondi had Rona packing his bags for Townsville last year and after a solid season with the Mackay Cutters where he gained Queensland Residents selection, he has finally pushed his way into the first grade side.

“We’re excited about him,” Cowboys general manager of football Peter Parr said.

“I think they rated him at the Roosters but I suppose they had a few guys there that at that point in time were ahead of him.

“They understood he probably would have a better opportunity at another club and we were looking for somebody like that.

“He has done really well, he had a really good off-season particularly this year.

Curtis Rona has impressed at Cowboys training. Picture: Evan Morgan

“He has done all the work. Internally we’ve always been really confident that once he got an opportunity he would do a job for us.

“If it wasn’t for a couple of little injuries he would have played NRL before now.”

The last player the Cowboys recruited from the Roosters was a young front rower who has become a Test prop in James Tamou, so North Queensland would dearly love a similar success story with Rona.

Rona was one of North Queensland’s stars of the Auckland Nines triumph in February, but a broken thumb late in the tournament meant he was unavailable for round one selection when he was seriously pushing for his NRL debut.

He was again close to selection a fortnight ago when Matthew Wright got the call up, but was sidelined by a minor leg injury for just one week and again forced to wait his turn.

But Rona will finally get his chance Friday night, opposing Manly up and comer Peta Hiku at Gosford Stadium in a crucial round seven clash for the Cowboys.

“He is a good player, a good size,” Parr said.

“It’s a big test for him, it doesn’t get much tougher than playing Manly away from home in your first NRL game.

“But we think he has done the work, he has done the apprenticeship and we think he has got the ability to handle it.

“We are going in with lots of confidence in him.”