Cowboys backrower Gavin Cooper has played 18 80-minute games in season 2015

COWBOYS ironman Gavin Cooper can number the minutes he’s had off the field this year on a butcher’s hand — and it was because his boot came off.

NRL Cowboys v Raiders

COWBOYS ironman Gavin Cooper can number the minutes he’s had off the field this year on a butcher’s hand — and it was because his boot came off.

Cooper has played all 19 Cowboys games this year, coming off the field only in the final minutes of a Round 3 clash.

Little did the Cowboys backrower realise at the time it could cost him a 100 per cent attendance record for the season so far.

Cooper and Cronulla’s Wade Graham are the only forwards in the NRL this year to have posted 18 80-minute games.

Gavin Cooper during a Cowboys training session. Picture: Wesley Monts

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Factor in the two golden-point games North Queensland have won and Cooper, 29, actually averages 80 minutes of action.

“Touch wood, I’ve been pretty fortunate this year,’’ said Cooper, who passed the 200-game mark earlier this month.

“I’ve missed two or three minutes, the last minutes against the Broncos in Brisbane.

“My shoe came off and we were getting dusted so they just left me off.

“Our high performance unit at the club have helped manage the training load around the games for me because playing 80 minutes takes a toll on your body.’’

Cooper’s 201 NRL games in 10 seasons speak to his resilience, with a 10-week absence last year with a dislocated hip the longest time he had spent on the sidelined.

In the fifth season of his second stint in Townsville, the 197cm backrower says the winning form of the Cowboys can be traced back to coach Paul Green’s ability to define an individual’s responsibilities.

“The way we’re playing last year and this year, everyone has a role to play and when you come into the team you are expected to do your job,’’ Cooper said.

“I think it’s translated into performances in the field.

“Before, we’d go to J.T. (Johnathan Thurston) and hope he’d get us out of games.’’

Cooper’s name was linked early this season with an Origin debut for Queensland but he sees generational reasons why he is battling to win selection next year.

“If they throw me in there’s another old fella in there,’’ he said. “They’re hard sides to make and have been for a long time with the success they’ve had.

“I would love a chance to play in that side and I was in the Emerging squad at the start of the year, so you never say never.

“Consistency was the thing I needed. I knew I could play footy in the NRL. It’s been something I’ve been able to do for a few years.’’