Sport
5 June, 2024
Mount Isa product signs deal to be 'Cowboy for life'
Coen Hess has inked a three-year contract extension with the NRL club.
The North Queensland Cowboys have agreed to a three-year contract extension with homegrown prop Coen Hess, running through to the end of the 2027 season.
The contract will take Hess one step closer to becoming a one-club player – the Black Stars junior will turn 31 in the final year of the deal.
Hess, who grew up in Mount Isa before moving to Townsville in his senior high school years, broke into the NRL with the Cowboys as a 19-year-old in 2015.
By 2017 he had solidified his reputation as one of the best young forwards in rugby league, scoring 13 tries in 27 games on the way to a grand final appearance.
He claimed the Paul Bowman Medal for Cowboys Player of the Year in 2021, in a season where he moved from second row to middle forward.
Hess has moved up to 14th on the Cowboys’ all-time appearance list with 167 games over the course of his 10 NRL seasons.
If not for an ACL injury in the final trial match leading into this season, Hess would have entered the club’s top 10 in 2024.
The 27-year-old is currently rehabbing from an ACL reconstruction, but is expected to be fully fit by the 2025 pre-season.
“We’re thrilled to be able to announce Coen’s extension for the next three seasons,” Cowboys general manager of football Micheal Luck said.
“He has been a huge contributor to this club over a long period of time and is a point of difference for us on the field with the work he churns through as well as his enthusiasm and intensity.
“We’re excited to have another North Queensland junior taking another step towards becoming a one-club player.”
Hess said it wasn’t a hard decision to put pen to paper.
“I’d like to think I’m pretty easy to negotiate with, I just told my manager I don’t really want to go anywhere else and not to even consider any other clubs – just get the most out of the Cowboys and I’ll sign on the dotted line,” he said.
“I’ve been here since I was 16 so I’ve spent pretty much half my life here. I’m happy here, and really looking forward to the next three years.”
Hess said the extended stint on the sideline – his first major injury in nine seasons of NRL – had been tough emotionally.
“I’d be lying if I said it was easy. But it hasn’t been too bad, I’ve got a good rehab coaching staff,” he said.
“It’s obviously a long and slow grind that has its challenges but I’m a pretty happy bloke, I still get to come to work, if you can call this work.
“I get to come in every day and work hard with my best mates so I wouldn’t really consider it a job – it’s challenging but it’s all part of the sport.”
With his restricted mobility Hess has been hitting the gym hard and he has a longstanding club record in his sights.
“Old Carl Webb has got the bench press record at the moment here at the club so I’ve sort of got a goal of achieving that,” Hess said.
“I told myself I don’t want to beat it, I just want to tie it so I can be up alongside him there because I think that’d be pretty special.
“I did 165kg for two the other day, so I’m closing in but there’s still a long way to go. 20kg on the bench is a lot.”
Hess was born in Bundaberg but moved to Mount Isa when he was just starting junior rugby league.
He first played for Townies, but ended up as a Black Stars player.
Hess has played six games for Queensland in State of Origin.