When it comes to balancing elite sport with full-time work, Cowboys forwards Emma Manzelmann and Makenzie Weale know better than most what it means to be tough on and off the field.
Appointed co-captain of the Cowboys, Manzelmann has become the second youngest skipper in the club's 30-year history, a reward for the hard work and dedication she has shown since joining the club for its inaugural 2023 season.
The Mackay-born hooker has already built an impressive CV, winning a premiership with the Knights in 2022, playing for the Maroons, and being named the North Queensland Gold Stars Player of the Year.
Away from footy, Manzelmann’s 9-to-5 is just as hands on. The 23-year-old works as a light vehicle mechanic at Toyota, a career that came naturally after growing up on a property in Mackay.
“Coming off a property in Mackay, I was always helping Dad with tractors and cars," Manzelmann told ljmpta.com
"Cars weren’t a major thing in my life or something I really wanted to do, but I happened to get a role as a trade assistant in a mechanic workshop.
“Then they offered me an apprenticeship and I thought, 'why not take up the opportunity and learn a bit more'. I love it.”
Manzelmann is not the only Cowboys star who knows her way around an engine.
Team-mate Weale is also a qualified mechanic, having previously worked as a heavy diesel mechanic apprentice before recently switching her focus to emergency services.
“I just swapped,” Weale said. “I have gone back to uni and I’m studying a diploma of emergency services to hopefully move into paramedicine. I’m about four weeks in.”
Weale admits balancing her trade career and life as a professional rugby league player became too difficult, particularly as she stepped into a senior role leading the Cowboys forward pack.
“I was in an electrical trade initially and I’d always had an interest in it,” she said.
“When I moved up north, I thought, 'why not start something new and do something different?'
"But it wasn’t working with the timetable with footy, so I decided to pull the pin on that for a while and focus on study.”
For Manzelmann, working for Toyota, a major sponsor of the Cowboys, has helped her manage the heavy workload of full-time work alongside professional rugby league.
Hard work, flair and foot races - Emma Manzelmann does it all
“You have to watch what you do at work, you have to cut your hours back and juggle two things at once,” she said.
“I’m very grateful for Toyota up here. They’re very lenient with the hours I work, and they know that footy comes first while we are in season. Obviously they are a big sponsor of ours, and they help out a lot.”
Both players joined the Cowboys from Newcastle, where they were part of the Knights premiership-winning squad in 2022.
Makenzie Weale Try
In 2024 they were part of Queensland's Origin series victory and this season Weale again played in all three games for the Maroons.
“I think we are coming together a bit more this year, and we know our purpose and our goals,” Weale said. “It is giving us more confidence and direction in the middle.”
The Cowboys have already made their mark this season, upsetting the Sharks in Round 3 and following up with a dominant defensive display in a shutout win over the Raiders.
It was the first time North Queensland had kept an opposition team scoreless in NRLW history.
Weale believes the defensive effort proves the squad is buying into the standards set by coach Ricky Henry and the leadership group.
“I think it proves what we are working towards and what Rick has us doing,” she said.
“Every game we are trying to lift the standard. We say that each game is the new standard and we try to build from there.”
