Lachlan Coote has expressed his pleasure that his side could give Gavin Cooper a win in his 200th NRL match after the Cowboys got over the top of the Sea Eagles on Monday night.
"It was definitely important that we got the win for him," Coote told NRL.com.
"It's a massive achievement for Coops, having him in our side is unreal. He's a player that you want to play for."
Cooper, who has scored seven tries so far this year, began his career at the Cowboys in 2006, then heading to the Titans and Panthers before settling back in North Queensland in 2011.
The experienced second-rower apparently tried to avoid telling any of his teammates that he had a milestone match coming up.
"I didn't even know coming up through the week it was his 200th," Coote said.
"He didn't want to big note himself I think, he was just doing his normal prep and then the coach tipped us all off that it's his 200th and we all realised.
"He got his jersey presented to him tonight so it's a good feeling and I'm glad the boys got up for it."
Cooper was handed his jersey for his 200th game by one of the Cowboys' best to ever play his position, Luke O'Donnell.
But what he would be most pleased with is where his side now sits heading into the final seven rounds of the Telstra Premiership.
The Cowboys are in second place on the ladder on 30 competition points, two points below leaders the Broncos and four clear of the third-placed Roosters.
Coote said it was a position his side would be hoping to make the best of.
"Johno [Thurston] spoke during the week and he said this is the best position we've been in since he's been at the club coming out of an Origin period," the 25-year-old fullback said.
"So we really want to jump all over that and capitalise on that and take advantage of where we're at, hopefully we can keep that rolling on into the finals."
