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BRISBANE - It is fast approaching high noon for the North Queensland Cowboys.
Will they recover from rumours of a player ambush?
Or will their National Rugby League (NRL) finals hopes ride off into the sunset?
Indeed the Cowboys' year to date already has had the ingredients of a classic western - plenty of intrigue, the arrival of hired guns and a big name casualty.
The drama began when North Queensland announced they would not renew coach Graham Murray's contract in 2009.
Whispers of a player-led revolt only got louder, despite the club's denials.
And all while the Cowboys prepared to miss skipper Johnathan Thurston for at least the first four rounds due to not one but two shoulder reconstructions.
It's enough to make the NRL team feel like lonesome Cowboys.
Yet they have still caused punters to stampede - bookies have North Queensland as one of the premiership favourites for 2008.
So what to make of North Queensland?
The last time they had to deal with off-field rumours they fell in a heap in 2006 and missed the finals entirely.
They were premiership favourites early that year too.
Yet the Cowboys have shown they can overcome adversity.
Amazingly, an injury-depleted North Queensland were one win away from a second grand final appearance in three years before bowing out in 2007.
Put simply, the Cowboys have the cattle in 2008.
North Queensland made the 2007 preliminary final with just one member of their starting pack at their disposal.
The mind boggles at what a Cowboys side welcoming back test backrower Luke O'Donnell, Queensland enforcer Carl Webb and big boppers Steve Southern, Shane Tronc (injury) and Sione Faumuina (suspension) can do.
And an already exciting backline receives a boost.
The Cowboys have lost foundation player Paul Bowman to retirement.
But they replaced him with a player that has already drawn comparisons with Bowman - from Bowman.
Former Bradford centre Ben Harris returns from a two year English Super League stint with big raps.
A member of the Bulldogs' 2004 premiership side along with now Cowboys skipper Thurston, Harris has impressed all the right people since arriving in Townsville - namely Bowman.
"He reminds me of the way I played," Bowman said.
"I look at him and think he is pretty similar type of player to me - always getting the job done and doesn't let anyone down."
Bowman even offered to help Harris fill the huge role of donning the famous No 4 jersey if the pressure became too much.
Harris will chime into a Cowboys side that looks set to face the first month of the season without inspirational skipper Thurston.
That's not good news for a team that has a lousy record of two wins from nine games without their talisman.
But Bowman said their returning forwards would ease the burden on the Cowboys' makeshift halves, likely to be two more newcomers Manly recruit Travis Burns and former Cronulla Shark Anthony Watts.
"The good thing is that the club has had the whole off-season to prepare for that," Bowman said.
"It would be harder if something freakish happened to Johnno at training and we had a week to prepare.
"But even Johnno would struggle behind a beaten pack.
"Whoever is filling in for Johnno will need that pack to help him out and thankfully we have guys like Luke O'Donnell and Steve Southern back."
A notorious "ding dong the witch is dead" text allegedly sent by a player following Murray's axing raised the prospect that the coach may not have the full support of his list.
But there should be no doubting Murray's commitment to the 2008 cause.
Success this season would make future employment all that easier - and of course leave eggs on faces in the Cowboys boardroom.
North Queensland winger Ty Williams has already claimed the Cowboys have vowed to send Murray out a winner.
All indications are that the Cowboys will come out with all guns blazing in 2008.
- AAP
