North Queensland Cowboys unveil surprising choice for NRLW team name

North Queensland brass deliberated on the decision for months before settling on a team name for the club’s first foray into the NRLW.

North Queensland Gold Stars with the Queensland premiership.

NORTH Queensland’s first NRLW team will ride on the shoulders of 28 years of rugby league history by adopting the Cowboys moniker made famous by the region’s men’s team.

Cowboys chief executive Jeff Reibel revealed the club had chosen to honour nearly three decades of rugby league tradition in North Queensland by bestowing the Cowboys name upon the women’s program.

North Queensland brass deliberated on the decision for months and weighed up three choices before settling on continuing the brand across both programs.

“I think that’s quite important,” Reibel told News.

“We spoke to our players, potential players, staff, partners and members and it’s clear that the Cowboys brand in North Queensland is about being a rugby league athlete and about being part of a community.

“That’s what everybody on the team wants to be, so overwhelmingly the feedback was that we are all Cowboys.”

Other NRLW clubs with male-gendered team names such as the Roosters and Broncos did not change their names for their women’s programs and Reibel said neither would North Queensland.

“We are honouring the legacy of who we are as a club,” Reibel declared.

“The Cowboys NRL and the Cowboys NRLW squads are playing at the pinnacle of rugby league, and being the Cowboys in both competitions shows exactly what we’re going to do with our professional approach.”

Contracting for the inaugural team will begin when NRL funding and squad sizes are finalised.

Player identification and selection has already begun with a trio of Charters Towers schoolgirls officially joining the Cowboys’ NRLW Academy for 2023.

None of the eight North Queensland NRLW products playing in the 2022 competition had signed deals longer than a single season, opening the door to an experienced nucleus leading the Cowboys to their first competition.

Originally published as North Queensland Cowboys unveil surprising choice for NRLW team name