NRL: Which clubs have signed the nine released Cowboys for 2024

French rugby league, French rugby union, Queensland Cup and even NRL clubs are set to pounce on the nine players farewelled by the Cowboys ahead of the 2024 season.

Departing Cowboys Taniela Sadrugu, Jake Bourke, Peta Hiku, Riley Price, James Tamou, Gehamat Shibasaki and Ben Hampton

Jake Bourke harbours no ill will against the Cowboys for casting him adrift without a chance to prove his worth on the NRL stage.

The former Emerging Maroons playmaker has had nearly six months to prepare for the end of his time with his boyhood club.

November 1 will mark the start of the new rugby league financial year and the first time since Bourke was a student at Ignatius Park College that he will not hold a contract with the Cowboys.

“I didn’t get my debut but it was a really cool experience, rubbing shoulders with your idols every day,” Bourke reflected.

“I’d love to stay here with the Cowboys but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.”

Cowboys Jake Bourke during the 2023 pre-season trial with Dolphins at Barlow Park in Cairns. Picture: NRL Imagery

Bourke, 21, has already learned one of the hardest lessons in professional sport.

It was in June or July that Bourke said he was summoned to a meeting with coach Todd Payten and club head of football Micheal Luck to be informed that his time with North Queensland was coming to an end.

Cowboys Jake Bourke during the 2023 pre-season trial with Dolphins at Barlow Park in Cairns. Picture: NRL Imagery

“They let me know that there wasn’t going to be a position next year for me,” Bourke said.

“I was disappointed, as you would be, but I didn’t want to dwell on it too much. There was a little bit of frustration but I didn’t get angry or have too many emotions about it.

“I would have loved to play NRL for the Cowboys, who I supported as a kid, but it wasn’t meant to be at the moment. Things didn’t go my way and I don’t want to blame anyone or anything for that.”

Bourke was one of nine Cowboys players in total that were farewelled at the end of the season.

The club is hopeful that number will not swell to 10, with Jordan McLean expected to re-sign before November 1.

Some, like Taniela Sadrugu (Brive in French rugby union), Peta Hiku (Hull KR) and Riley Price (Penrith), secured their next contracts before the season was up.

Others, like Mitchell Dunn and Brendan Elliot, are still in limbo, waiting for what the future may hold.

Elliot has returned home to the Gold Coast and is considering Queensland Cup clubs Burleigh or Tweed or retiring from football entirely as he completes his studies.

Ben Hampton and Dunn have retired from the NRL but may yet return to the Queensland Cup, though they have not signed with any of North Queensland’s three clubs yet.

Gehamat Shibasaki has an open invitation to join James Tamou at the Blackhawks under coach Terry Campese but has not yet accepted it.

Jordan McLean of the Cowboys is expected to sign his contract extension with the Cowboys within a week. Picture: Getty Images

“There were a few of us that got that news,” Bourke said.

“Having a few other boys in the same position helped me but all the boys at the club were really supportive.

“We didn’t really talk about it. We just went to training every day and tried to soak up being a Cowboy as best as I could and have fun.”

Bourke still hopes that a Cowboys debut is in his future.

Without an NRL game to his name Bourke had only his junior representative reputation and footage from a 26-game Blackhawks career to show recruiters.

Townsville Blackhawks player Jake Bourke. Picture: Alix Sweeney / MENDI Blackhawks Media

No NRL or Super League offers eventuated but a surprising lifeline did - via France’s Elite One Championship.

Bourke has signed a one-year deal to play for Limoux in the nation’s top division.

The tiny town, 120km northwest of the Spanish border, has a population of around 10,000, slightly larger than Charters Towers, but sits atop the French ladder after four matches of the new season.

Bourke will link with former Melbourne Storm prop Darryn Schonig, a 2013 graduate of Kirwan State High School, at Limoux.

After 12 months in France the Townsville pair will be eligible to sign with UK Super League clubs as ‘European’ players.

Strict quotas on international talent in the Super League have made stopovers in French rugby league a gateway for out-of-work footballers to reinvigorate their careers.

It is a rugby league detour Townsville born-and-bred Bourke never would have imagined.

The playmaker vowed to embrace his sea-change in the same spirit he tackled the final months of his Cowboys contract: enjoying the once-in-a-lifetime experience the sport has afforded him.

“It’s come as a bit of a surprise,” Bourke said.

“I was sitting at home one day when my agent called me and asked if I wanted to go to France and play footy.

“I didn’t know what to say at first but I thought about it and talked to a few people and I was pretty keen to go over.

“I’ve never lived anywhere else or played footy anywhere else. It will be a different lifestyle, different serenity, but I’m looking forward to the change.”

The example of Jake Clifford, the Tully product who leveraged a season in the Super League to return to the Cowboys, is an inspirational tale for Bourke.

With his feet firmly on the ground Bourke made no secret of his desire to earn passage back to the NRL.

“I’ve not got any expectations but after the season I’d love to go to the Super League and then maybe one day come back to Australia and play NRL,” he said.

“I’ve always had that dream so if my journey brings me home that would be pretty cool.”

Originally published as NRL: Which clubs have signed the nine released Cowboys for 2024