New Cowboys recruit Shaun Fensom ready to dish the dirt on Canberra

NORTH QUEENSLAND recruit Shaun Fensom says he’s ready to dish the dirt on his former club as the Cowboys prepare to face the Raiders.

Cowboys players at 1300 Smiles Stadium. Shaun Fensom. Picture: Evan Morgan

COWBOYS recruit Shaun Fensom has dished the dirt on Ricky Stuart’s Raiders, providing new coach Paul Green with the secrets of Canberra’s playbook ahead of Saturday’s NRL season-opener.

Fensom flew into Townsville on Sunday after being released by the Raiders and wasted no time in giving his new club an upper hand ahead of their round 1 showdown at 1300Smiles Stadium.

Fenson, 28, played 139 NRL games over eight seasons for Canberra, but fell out of favour with Stuart last season as the Raiders cruised to a preliminary final berth.

Fensom joined the Cowboys late last week.

Green is considering blooding Fensom in Cowboys colours against his former club and the hardworking forward said he had no hesitation in revealing Stuart’s secrets.

“I’ll give him a few tips,” Fensom said.

“I know all the plays. I know all the calls.

“I spoke to him (Green) last night about a couple of them.

“I’ll definitely let him know what all the plays are.”

Fensom was a Canberra crowd favourite with his no-frills style and tackle counts which looked like cricket scores.

He insisted there was no bad blood towards his old club and the opportunity to join Johnathan Thurston at the Cowboys was too hard to pass up.

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“These things happen a lot throughout a player’s career,” he said.

“I’ve got no hard feelings at all.

“You’ve got to be as professional as you can and move on.

“I pride myself on doing as much work as I can. I’ll do whatever role I can do here.”

With James Tamou (Penrith) and Ben Hannant (retired) leaving the club, Green was on the hunt for an experienced forward to join his ranks and Fensom could play on Saturday.

“He’s a chance,” Green said.

“I won’t put any unnecessary pressure on him or take any risks that we don’t have to. We’re not at that stage of the year.

“He could challenge for a starting spot.

Fensom was a consistent performer for the Raiders for a long time.

“What number he wears — I don’t know. There’s not much difference these days.”

Green will name a 21-man squad for the Raiders game which will see Matt Scott and Scott Bolton start in the front row.

Jason Taumalolo, Ethan Lowe and Gavin Cooper are expected to retain their back-row positions.

Storm recruit Ben Hampton is expected to be the utility while Coen Hess is a certainty to be on the bench.

John Asiata, Sam Hoare, Patrick Kaufusi, Braden Uele and Fensom are vying for the other two spots.

Winger Antonio Winterstein is tracking well in his recovery from an ankle injury and could face the Raiders, which would see Javid Bowen and Kalyn Ponga overlooked.

“He did some running late last week,” Green said of Winterstein.

“It wasn’t as bad as initially thought.

“We’ll see how he goes this week and make a decision later.”