Scott: Cowboys have great depth

North Queensland enforcer Matt Scott says the improved depth of the Cowboys’ squad will allow them to be competitive this year.

Prop Scott, who was announced as the club’s co-captain alongside Johnathan Thurston, believes coach Neil Henry’s men can challenge the NRL‘s top teams.

The signing of Robert Lui, the emergence of talented playmaker Ray Thompson and the return of Brent Tate are all likely to boost the squad.

And Scott is fully confident ahead of next weekend’s season opener against Gold Coast.

“We had a relatively good couple of trials but obviously we’ve still got a couple of things we need to improve, but we’re feeling very confident,” Scott said.

“We think we’ve got a lot of depth there to cover a lot of things that could happen such as losing Johnathan at Origin time or any injuries that may occur.

“That does give the team a lot more confidence and you can definitely tell at training that we’ve got the depth to cover a lot of positions now.”

Henry is expected to select Thurston at five-eighth with Lui taking up the halfback position, giving the Australian international more time and space.

“I think it will free him [Thurston] up a bit,” added Scott.

“It’s definitely going to allow him to play a more expansive role and take a little more pressure off him.

“It’s going to be great to see.”