NRL Rookie Watch: Which Cowboys are worth keeping an eye on in 2023?

With the 2023 NRL season nearing, we list the crop of rookies from each club worth keeping tabs on as they aim to join the elite list of budding stars with a Rookie of the Year award to their name.

As per the NRL, “players are eligible for the Rookie of the Year in their debut season and the subsequent two NRL seasons … Once a player plays five (5) NRL Premiership matches (or English Super League matches), he becomes ineligible for the Rookie of the Year in any subsequent seasons”.

Taniela Sadrugu

Having made his international debut for Fiji at last year’s World Cup, Sadrugu looks set to make the leap from Queensland Cup to NRL this season. Listed at 191 cm and 106 kg and currently a part of the Cowboys’ top 30, Sadrugu is a versatile up-and-comer with experience in the outside backs and in the forwards. In 15 Queensland Cup appearances for Townsville last season, the 24-year-old scored seven tries, broke 73 tackles, and averaged 141 run metres. Over his last five games of the season, he scored four tries, broke 29 tackles, and averaged 165 run metres. He spent the season as a centre with Townsville before playing as a back-rower in his four World Cup games for Fiji, where he scored two tries and averaged 109 run metres. With Tom Gilbert now a Dolphin and uncertainty surrounding the immediate availability of Luciano Leilua and Heilum Luki, Sadrugu could earn an opportunity early in the season under head coach Todd Payten and will aim to cement himself as a genuine first-grader.

Tom Chester

Chester debuted for the Cowboys off the pine in Round 18 last year making 11 tackles in an energetic, 12-minute spurt. The 21-year-old made the leap up to Queensland Cup last year and impressed from the outset, scoring six and assisting on five tries in his 13 games at fullback for Townsville whilst also coming up with 50 tackle breaks and averaging 122 metres. His best outing came in Townsville’s 72-0 walloping of Souths Logan where he scored three tries, broke nine tackles, and ran for 195 metres in just 56 minutes. With utility Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow having exited the club, Chester will have his sights set on the vacant 14 jumper. Whilst he made a name for himself as a fullback last year in Queensland Cup, he also has experience as a lock and in the halves which could make him an attractive option for Payten.

Riley Price

The son of legend Steve, Price established himself at Queensland Cup level last year with Townsville, starting in 16 games in the middle and earning himself a reputation as a big-minute workhorse. Still just 21, Price is highly-regarded up north and will push for an NRL debut this season from early in the piece. Across his final four games last season in Queensland Cup, he made 114 tackles with just one miss and played upwards of 55 minutes in all four games. There is little doubt that the Kawana Dolphins junior has what it takes to develop into a reliable week-to-week first-grader and, with the Cowboys’ forward stocks perhaps slightly thin early this season, his shot could come sooner than expected.

Robert Derby

An athletic winger, Derby began truly making waves last season when he made his international debut for Papua New Guinea midyear and ran for 155 metres from 18 carries. He spent the year playing for Northern Pride in Queensland Cup scoring seven tries in 16 games, breaking 80 tackles, and averaging 157 run metres. His most eye-popping outing came in the side’s Round 17 win over Townsville where he ran for 237 metres and broke 10 tackles. He also managed a try double and 178 metres in the side’s Round 9 draw with Sunshine Coast. Still just 20 years old, Derby has a tonne of football ahead of him and may push for an NRL debut this season, particularly if any of North Queensland’s outside backs find themselves on Origin duty. With Tabuai-Fidow no longer at the club, the Cowboys look set to rely on some of their young guns to fill depth roles throughout the season with Derby close to the top of the list.

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