Squad depth is a crucial factor for NRL teams and the North Queensland Cowboys have retained Ben Hampton and Brendan Elliot for that purpose.
Both continue to impress the Cowboys organisation when called upon and the duo have been rewarded with extensions for the 2023 seasons.
Hampton, who has played in 81 NRL games over six seasons at the Cowboys, has become known as a utility man, able to cover spots 1-7 and hooker if need be.
Hampton, who hails from Mareeba, was praised by Cowboys General Manager of Football Micheal Luck.
“Ben goes about his work in a selfless manner every day with the goal of making our team better,” Luck said.
“His attitude is infectious and our group is better in every aspect when he is around.
“Benny can play a number of different positions and players like that are invaluable.”
Luck also praised Elliot, who has so far appeared in three games this season for the Cowboys, praising his professionalism since joining.
“Brendan has been a terrific addition since he came on board. Since day one, he’s been everything we hoped he’d be – an absolute professional who does his job with minimal fuss, trains hard and in his couple of games has shown himself to be really valuable through his ability to play different positions at a high level,” Luck said.
“It’s great to have a guy like Brendan commit to us for another year.”
