State of Origin 2021: Maroons coach Paul Green continues overhaul by appointing Paul Bowman

Paul Green has added the final piece to his Queensland Origin coaching puzzle - and like many of his recent appointments, he’s gone back to familiar territory.

A helicopter delivered a square metre of turf from North Queensland Cowboys old stadium to their new home, Queensland Country Back Stadium. Paul Bowman. Picture: Alix Sweeney

New Queensland coach Paul Green has continued his shake-up of the Maroons by reuniting with the high-performance boss who helped break the Cowboys’ NRL premiership drought.

Green has wasted no time putting his stamp on Camp Maroon with Wayne Bennett’s successor hiring Paul Bowman as Queensland’s sports-science chief for this year’s State of Origin series.

Former Cowboys mentor Green has been busy putting together his coaching brigade, recently appointing NRL playmaking legend Johnathan Thurston and veteran Neil Henry as his chief assistants for the 2021 campaign.

Watch The 2021 NRL Telstra Premiership Live & On-Demand with No Ad-Breaks During Play. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Paul Green knows Paul Bowman well.

Green then overhauled Queensland’s strength-and-conditioning program, severing ties with respected trainer Alex Corvo a fortnight ago in favour of Andrew Croll, who was part of the Cowboys’ premiership win in 2015.

Now Green has added the final piece to his Queensland puzzle with the acquisition of Bowman, one of the NRL’s longest-serving sports-science chiefs who devised the training program for the Cowboys’ historic title triumph.

“It will be great to have Paul on board,” Green said.

“Both Andrew and Paul are leaders in their respective fields and it’s great to have them back together on staff for this year’s series.

“Together with ‘JT’ (Thurston), they have achieved success in the past.

Paul Green has his coaching staff in place.

“Having Neil (Henry) on board as an assistant coach adds another layer of experience and stability as well.”

Bowman joins Camp Maroon armed with a formidable rugby league portfolio. The former centre was a foundation Cowboy in 1995, playing 203 first-grade games for the club and amassing 12 games for Queensland across five Origin campaigns, including their famous 2001 series victory with ‘Bennett’s Babes’.

“I know Paul well from my time at the Cowboys and he played State of Origin himself, so he understands what is required in that arena,” Green said.

“The way Paul played, he was so tough and a great competitor and the players can learn a lot from his mindset, not to mention his professional skill set.”

Bowman, who currently heads up the Cowboys’ high-performance program, is eager to reunite with Green and Croll as they plot Queensland’s second consecutive series win.

Johnathan Thurston brings plenty of Origin experience to his role.

“State of Origin is a great environment to be involved in,” he said.

“It’s such a prestigious team and the whole Origin concept is something that inspires us all.

“I’m privileged and excited to be involved.”

Originally published as State of Origin 2021: Maroons coach Paul Green continues overhaul by appointing Paul Bowman