Tamou primed for last hurrah after retirement near misses

After twice facing the prospect of his NRL career being done and dusted in the past 12 months, James Tamou is back and has the chance to finish things on his own terms with the Cowboys. 

After receiving a lifeline from North Queensland at the end of last year in the form of a one-year contract, the 34-year-old again thought it might be over when he suffered a serious foot injury just four games into 2023.

After returning to the field last weekend for the club’s feeder team Townsville Blackhawks, Tamou was included in the wider NRL squad for Thursday night’s clash with the Sharks but will again line up in Queensland Cup after being omitted on Wednesday.

The former Kangaroos and NSW bookend admits he finds himself in a situation that seemed highly unlikely at times over the past year.

“My last year at the Tigers was a very tough year, so I thought that was it there, hang the boots up,” Tamou said on the club’s Cowboys Catch Up show.

"[Then] the injury came along and I thought, ‘OK, that’s it, I have got to start listening to the body and maybe it’s trying to tell me something’.

The last couple of months the fire has been building to come back.

James Tamou

"If there was ever a game to come back and test the injury out, against the Papua New Guinea Hunters [last week] was the game.

"I pulled up sweet, ticked the boxes and was pretty happy to get past that.

"It’s a weird feeling where you come back from footy and you’re sore, but you look forward to that soreness."

It shapes as a fitting finish for the 307-gamer, who is set to retire at season's end, having previously spent eight seasons at the Cowboys and won a premiership with the club in 2015, before departing for stints with the Panthers and Wests Tigers. 

Whether he makes the final 17 or not, Tamou will be farewelled by the club on Thursday night at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, in what is North Queensland's final home game of the regular season. 

"I was going to hang the boots up last year but to get this one more opportunity, I am very thankful for it and to come back up to Townsville… we are glad to be back," Tamou said. 

"I always have been a fan of the Cowboys, especially last year, I couldn’t stop watching them. They were a team that you could never take your eye off and they were never dead. 

"[I was] coming up here just to enjoy it, putting everything into it, because I know you are a long time retired." 

The return of representative back-rower Jeremiah Nanai after time out with a shoulder injury and the potential for Tamou to play a role provides a timely boost to the Cowboys' pack for the run home. 

Sitting ninth, but even on points with the eighth-placed Rabbitohs, North Queensland remain right in the mix to qualify through to the finals for the second year in a row.