The NRL market has been in full swing for 2023 with several stars switching clubs ahead of the new season.
NRL.com takes a deeper look at some of the major transfers and how each club will benefit from their big name arrivals in 2023.
James Tamou (Cowboys)
- Age: 34
- Position they’ll fill: Prop
- Contracted until: 2023
What Tamou can bring
It will be a full circle moment for James Tamou in 2023, with the premiership winning prop returning to the club that handed him his NRL debut.
After a tough past two seasons captaining the Wests Tigers, Tamou is back at the North Queensland Cowboys where he first ran out in 2009 with a fire “still in the belly” to perform in the NRL.
A veteran of the competition, having played his 300th game in Round 19 this past season – ironically against the Cowboys – Tamou will bring leadership and plenty of experience with him, having lived through the highs and lows of the game.
A key member of the North Queensland forward pack when they won the title in 2015 in a game heralded as one of the great grand finals, scoring a first-half try, Tamou has himself spoken about the learning he had to do before realising what it took to be fully professional in the game, a lesson he can impart onto the relatively young and inexperienced forward pack at the Cowboys.
Tamou will also bring a genuine enthusiasm to play with and lead the fresh crop of talent, having stated that “Reuben Cotter is my new favourite player” following his high octane State of Origin debut in one of the game's toughest arenas.
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Why it’ll work
Tamou comes to the club with a hunger to add to his 305-game NRL career after seriously considering either retirement or a stint in the Super League at the end of this season. What he has achieved already in the game – including just with the Cowboys where he played in 170 games across seven seasons between 2009 and 2016, featuring in 13 finals appearances in total – speaks volumes and is bound to have his young teammates inspired to attain a similar level of success.
The captain of the Panthers when they made it to the 2020 grand final, Tamou also has numerous representative appearances for New South Wales and Australia on his impressive resume, but has said a starting spot in the 2023 line-up is not a given, despite his experience. Any competition for spots can only be a good thing for the Cowboys who will be hoping to push further into the finals and capitalise in on the skills and talents of the forwards like Cotter and Jeremiah Nanai who flourished this past season.
Having someone like Tamou in the squad will also relieve the pressure on superstar James Taumalolo who for many seasons was forced to shoulder much of the workload before the recent emergence of not only the younger forwards, but also the fulfilment of the potential of players like Scott Drinkwater at fullback and hooker Reece Robson who went from fringe options to the first players picked week-to-week.