Matt Bowen

Matthew Jeremy Bowen (born 9 March 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s.

An Australia international and Queensland State of Origin representative, he played in the National Rugby League (NRL) for Australian club, the North Queensland Cowboys, with whom he set the club's record for most matches, and in the Super League for English club, the Wigan Warriors.

His school team won the Queensland schoolboys' competition in 1999 and he was named player of the tournament.

His schoolboy exploits attracted the attention of a number of NRL clubs in Sydney and Brisbane (including the Broncos, Dragons and Sharks); however, he chose to pursue his professional career with his local team, the North Queensland Cowboys.

In 2000, he was part of the Cowboys' reserve grade team that made the grand final of the reserve grade competition and was selected for the Queensland under-19 team.

Bowen made his NRL debut in Round 1 of the 2001 NRL season against Queensland rivals, the Brisbane Broncos, coming off the bench in his side's 17–18 loss at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

He scored his first NRL try in Round 9 against the Canberra Raiders, coming off the bench again in a 26–34 loss.

In his rookie season, Bowen played 15 games, scoring six tries and kicking one goal.

After spending time on the bench and at five-eighth, Bowen played his primary position of fullback for the final seven games of the season.

At the end of the season Bowen was selected at halfback for the Junior Kangaroos, alongside future Cowboys teammates Dallas Johnson, Micheal Luck and Brent Tate.

Despite finishing 2001 as the club's starting fullback, Bowen vacated the role at the start of the 2002 NRL season for the returning Tim Brasher, who was the Cowboys' captain at the time.

Bowen played on the wing in Round 1, in a game where Brasher would once again succumb to injury, vacating the fullback spot.

In Round 2, Bowen played five-eighth in the Cowboys' loss to the Broncos before taking over the fullback position permanently a week later.

Bowen enjoyed a breakout season in 2002, scoring 12 tries in 24 games, including a run of five games in which he scored a try.

In 2003, Bowen made his representative debut, being called up to the Queensland team for Game II of the State of Origin series.

He played 16 minutes as a substitute, as Queensland lost the series.

He was selected again for Game III of the series, coming off the bench in Queensland's 36–6 win.

Bowen played 20 NRL games in 2003, scoring nine tries, including his first NRL hat-trick in the Cowboys' 60–8 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Round 24.

The Cowboys made the finals series for the first time in 2004, with Bowen playing a key role in the side which finished one match short of their first Grand Final.

In 23 games, he scored 11 tries, including one in the Cowboys first ever finals game, a 30–22 victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs.

Bowen once again represented Queensland in 2004, playing in all three games and scoring his first Origin try in the Maroons' Game III loss.

At the end of the season Bowen was selected in the Australian Kangaroos squad for the Tri-Nations series.

He played at fullback in a tour match against Cumbria, scoring a try, although he did not play in the Tri-Nations series, with Anthony Minichiello preferred as the Kangaroos' fullback.

However, after the Tri-Nations series, he made his Test debut in a one-off match against France in Carcassonne, that Australia won 52–30.

On the touring squad's return journey to Australia, he scored three tries in a non-Test exhibition match against the United States in Philadelphia.

Bowen was the NRL's top try-scorer in the 2005 and 2007 seasons.

Former Queensland and Australian captain Darren Lockyer has called Bowen a "little freak", citing his skills and dynamism.

Two-time premiership winning coach Phil Gould remarked in 2005 that he was a "modern-day icon of the game", saying that "Bowen has unique football instincts. He performs the difficult with ease and some of his feats have redefined what we once believed to be impossible."

Born in Cairns, Queensland, Bowen grew up in the Cape York Aboriginal community of Hopevale.

He attended St. Teresa's College, Abergowrie near Ingham where he started playing rugby league at the age of 12.

In 2005, halfback Johnathan Thurston joined the Cowboys, in what would prove to have a major effect on not just the club but on Bowen's career.

Over the next nine seasons, Bowen and Thurston would form one of the competition's most dangerous combinations.

On the back of Thurston and Bowen, the Cowboys made it to the 2005 NRL Grand Final, the club's first.

Despite Bowen scoring the opening try, they lost to the Wests Tigers, 30–16.

Bowen's 21 tries in 2005 made him the competition's top try scorer.

Bowen was again selected for Queensland in the 2005 State of Origin series.

In Game I of the series, he proved to be the game-breaker.

After coming off the bench in the second half, he intercepted a pass from New South Wales half-back Brett Kimmorley and ran 40m to score in golden point extra time, thus winning the game for Queensland.

Bowen would also score tries in the second and third games of the series, although Queensland lost both matches to lose the series.

He was selected in Queensland's starting line-up in the third match for the first time in his career, displacing Billy Slater.