Cowboys unchanged for Manly clash

by NRL

North Queensland coach Neil Henry has named an unchanged 18-man squad for Saturday night's NRL 'Close the Gap' round match against Manly at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

Aiming for a sixth straight win at home, the Toyota Cowboys squad includes halfback Ray Thompson who has been 18th man for the last two rounds as he worked on regaining full fitness after injuring his shoulder in round 19 against the Warriors.

Both the Cowboys and Sea Eagles, who beat the Warriors in Perth on Saturday night, sit on 26 points with North Queensland holding down fourth spot, two places ahead of their opponents this weekend, thanks to a superior points for and against record.

It is the first meeting between the two clubs since Manly eliminated the Cowboys from the 2011 finals series before going on to win the premiership.

Kick off at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday will be at 7.30pm.

North Queensland Cowboys v Manly Sea Eagles
Round 22, 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership
7.30pm, Saturday 4 August, Dairy Farmers Stadium

1 Matthew Bowen
2 Kalifa Faifai Loa
3 Brent Tate
4 Kane Linnett
5 Antonio Winterstein
6 Johnathan Thurston [c]
7 Michael Morgan
8 Matthew Scott [c]
9 Aaron Payne
10 James Tamou
11 Gavin Cooper
12 Glenn Hall
13 Dallas Johnson

14 Anthony Mitchell
15 Ricky Thorby
16 Ashton Sims
17 Scott Bolton
18 Ray Thompson

Coach: Neil Henry

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