Tom Duffy’s early victory in race for Cowboys halves jerseys

The man intent on usurping North Queensland co-captain and halfback Chad Townsend has started pre-season with a bang in the club’s first 1.2km shuttle. See which Cowboys finished top 5.

Cowboys' Tom Duffy kicks a conversion in the NRL pre season match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Redcliffe Dolphins at Barlow Park Picture: Brendan Radke

The young man intent on usurping North Queensland co-captain and halfback Chad Townsend has started pre-season with a bang as the Cowboys’ mission to return to NRL finals began on Wednesday.

Now in his second year in the Cowboys NRL squad, Tom Duffy has hit the ground running by finishing third in the club’s first 1.2km shuttle run of pre-season.

The 1200m test is used in many sports as a baseline for fitness, and Duffy only trailed Jodeci Baker-Tiraha and Sean Mullany (Mackay Cutters training block player) in Wednesday’s run.

“It was a good session, everyone’s come back in pretty good shape and a few cobwebs were blown out this morning,” Duffy said.

Cowboy Tom Duffy trains during the 2023 NRL pre-season. Picture: Alix Sweeney / North Queensland Toyota Cowboys

“We’ve laid the foundation, and I think every session we will look to go up from where we went today.

“We all know the (Castle) Hill is coming, I’m sure there’s a few other curveballs in there but we’re ready for it.

“As a half you have to stay in the game for 80 minutes and make quick decisions, be three steps ahead of the game, so the fitter I can be the better I can make those decisions and the quicker I can make them.”

Duffy put rumours of a Bulldogs defection to bed in July when he agreed to a two-year contract extension that will see him remain in North Queensland until at least the end of 2025,

making him the longest contracted half at the club (as of November 1).

Duffy said learning from senior players Townsend and Jake Clifford would be key to his development.

“They’ve played 100, 200 NRL games and I’ve played none – so the more I can get into their brains about what to do in certain periods of games, it’ll make me a lot better of a player,” Duffy said.

“Cliffo is a good fella and I’m looking forward to get to know him, train alongside him and learn a lot off him.”

Ignatius Park College players Thomas Duffy and Cathane Hill ahead of the Aaron Payne Cup semi-finals in 2021. Picture: Matthew Elkerton

Ignatius Park alumni Duffy was a standout for the Townsville Blackhawks in 2023 as the only player to feature in all 20 games, finishing fifth overall in the Queensland Cup for points scored (154), third for goals (71) and tied-first for 40/20s (2).

But the 20-year-old halfback ruled out returning to the Blackhawks after the club cut ties with the Cowboys.

“I’ll be going either north or south. Not sure where that’ll be yet but wherever I go, I’m pretty excited to make either the Pride or the Cutters a better football team and make finals,” Duffy said.

The former Queensland under-19s player and Australian Schoolboy (merit team) said he didn’t have any grandparents granting him extra eligibility and his ultimate goal was to return to the Maroons and Australian setups.

“Every true Townsville boy’s dream is to play for the Cowboys, and if you’re good enough and work hard enough Queensland and then Australia, that’s definitely the dream,” he said.

Originally published as Tom Duffy’s early victory in race for Cowboys halves jerseys