The North Queensland Young Guns were a
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
team competing in the
Queensland Cup. They acted as a feeder team for the
North Queensland Cowboys. The Cowboys had previously entered reserve grade teams in the
Australian Rugby League and
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
competitions. However, to prevent a drain on travelling expenses, the Cowboys applied to join the
Queensland Cup for the 1998 season. Competing as the Townsville Stingers, the reserve grade team had some initial success before narrowly missing the finals. The team was excluded from the 1999 Queensland Cup season, and the Cowboys decided to enter their teams into the predominantly
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
-based First Division for the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Readmitted to the Queensland Cup in 2002, the Young Guns (as they were then known) would win the competition in 2005 with a 36–6 win against defending premiers
Burleigh Bears in the grand final.
The Stingers/Young Guns record in the Queensland Cup is 67 wins, 5 draws and 38 losses.
2007 - final Queensland Cup season
Their 2007 coach was Matt Parish, replacing
Mick Crawley for the season. They narrowly won the Minor Premiers Trophy by beating the
Dolphins by 2 points in a match in last round of the regular season at Dairy Farmers Stadium on 18 August. The regular season had a tight finish as usual: the teams below the
Dolphins, the
Tweed Heads Seagulls and the
Ipswich Jets all finished 3 points below the Young Guns.
After such a great season, the Young Guns went into the finals as favourites.
In the finals, the Young Guns were given a bye in the first round. In the 2nd round they faced the 2nd placed
Dolphins but lost 28–18. They still had a 2nd chance, however, and they just needed to beat the
Tweed Heads Seagulls who were in red hot form to make their 2nd
Queensland Cup Grand Final appearance. They didn't, they choked at the last hurdle before the Grand Final and lost by a whopping margin of 24 points to the
Seagulls
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...
, the final score was an embarrassing 34–10.
This would be the Young Guns final Queensland Cup Match as they were now officially out of the
Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...
due to the fact they had been merged/replaced with/by
Northern Pride, based in
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and owned by the
Cairns Taipans
The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...
Australian NBL Team.
The last Young Guns squad (2007) was :
*James Andersen
*
Brett Anderson
Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004-2 ...
*
Daniel Backo
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
*Ryan Bartlett
*Steven Beaumont
*
Scott Bolton
*Brandon Boor
*Samuel James Bowie
*Greg Byrnes
*
Sam Faust
Sam Faust (24 September 1984 – 23 May 2011) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League competition.
Playing career
Faust spent time at the St. George Illaw ...
*
John Frith
*Jamie Frizzo
*Obadiah Geia
*Luke Hume
*
Toshio Laiseni
Toshio Laiseni (born 19 June 1985) is a Tongan former professional rugby league footballer who played as or er.
Early career
Laiseni was born in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga.
Laiseni started his football at the Otahuhu Leopards before being selected ...
*
Keiron Lander Keiron may refer to:
*Keiron Bigby (born 1966), former American football wide receiver
*Keiron Cunningham (born 1976), Welsh professional rugby league coach and former player
* Keiron Jenkins (born 1987), Welsh rugby union player
* Keiron O'Loughli ...
*Ben Lowe
*Ryan Mahoney
*Shane Muspratt
*
Jackson Nicolau
Jackson Nicolau (born 19 July 1987) was an Australian Rugby league footballer who played for the Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL.
He was born in the North Queensland town of Innisfail. He primarily plays in the five ...
*Brady Payne
*Dean Payne
*Scott Smith
*
Ben Vaeau
Ben Vaeau (born 7 January 1982) is a professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for Eastern Suburbs Tigers in the Queensland Cup. His position of preference is at prop.
Playing career
Vaeau played for the Manukau Magpies in the 20 ...
*Colin Wilkie
Young Guns 2007
retrieved 18 August 2007
After 2007
Results
* 1998 (''as Townsville Stingers'') - 7th
* 2002 - 6th
* 2003 - 7th
* 2004 - 7th
* 2005 - Premiers
* 2006 - 4th
* 2007 - 1st(Minor Premiers)
See also
References
External links
Official Website
{{North Queensland Cowboys
Sport in Townsville
Rugby league teams in Queensland
North Queensland Cowboys
Rugby clubs established in 1998