Lillyman stays at Cowboys

The North Queensland Cowboys announced today that Jacob Lillyman had agreed to stay with the Cowboys until the end of 2008.

Lillyman, 22 a product of the North Queensland Western Town of Richmond made his first grade debut for the Cowboys in 2003 and has played 21 first grade games.

His consistent performances were rewarded this year when he was selected to play for Queensland in the second game of this years State of Origin Series.

Cowboys CEO Peter Parr said, “We are very happy that Jacob has decided to continue his career with the Cowboys.”

“Having recently played State of Origin and being a local junior we viewed Jacob as a priority signing.”

In other news today;

A record total of 40 teams, 600 participating under 11 players, 135 officials and around 2,500 adult supporters have converged from all around North Queensland for this year’s “Ikin Store It Laurie Spina Shield” which commences today at Townsville’s Dairy Farmers Stadium and Brothers Rugby League Grounds.

The teams, have travelled from as far away as Hopevale, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton, The Burdekin, Innisfail, Palm Island, Gladstone, Central Highlands and Mt Isa will be playing for the Ikin Store It Laurie Spina Shield.

Cowboys Development Manager, Kristian Woolf, said he was overwhelmed with the response to this year’s carnival.

“The number of teams nominated in the Ikin Store It Laurie Spina Shield this year is indicative of where Rugby League in North Queensland is heading. North Queensland has a strong Rugby League base, which is conceived in junior competition.”

The 40 teams involved will play at Dairy Farmers Stadium and Brothers Rugby League Ground Townsville today and tomorrow and the finals to will be played as curtain raisers tomorrow night to the NRL game between the NQ Cowboys and South Sydney.

The games will run for 25 minutes with each team playing three games in a round robin format with the winners of each group progressing to the quarterfinals. This is the 11th year of the competition and last year the competition was won by Kangaroos from Cairns.

Also tomorrow night all 40 teams will attend the NRL game between the North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney to participate in the Four N Twenty sprint at half time of the match.

Laurie Spina and Alan Ikin will be on hand for the “Ikin Store It Laurie Spina Shield” and will present the trophy to the winning team on Saturday. Cowboys players will also be present over the two-day event.

Laurie Spina, a local from Ingham, was the Cowboys inaugural captain. After finishing his professional career, Spina moved back to his hometown. He still maintains a strong connection with junior rugby league, which is evident in his dedication to regional coaching.