With Townsville being the country s largest garrison town, the North Queensland Cowboys have an intrinsic and proud connection to the Australian Defence Force.
The Australian Army even helped with building the club s first stadium before they entered the ARL competition in 1995.
After being unable to host an Anzac Round match last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic - though they created their own Defence Round later in the season - the Cowboys feel privileged to do so on Saturday night when they face the Raiders at QCB Stadium. You look at the population of Townsville – around 200,000 – 13 percent either work directly for the Defence Force or have some sort of connection, whether that be through family or ex-military in the Defence Force, North Queensland CEO Jeff Reibel told NRL.com.