Injury-plagued Cowboys gun shines in return, Craig Fitzgibbon watches son score for Bulldogs

Heilum Luki is back with a vengeance after spending all of last season on the sidelines, crossing for a try in North Queensland's 34-30 win over Canterbury.

The injury-plagued Cowboys forward missed the 2025 campaign with an ACL injury suffered in pre-season training, derailing a promising career once more.

Luki has had a horror run with injuries since bursting onto the scene five years ago, delaying what still feels like an inevitable State of Origin debut for the Maroons.

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The 24-year-old was back on deck for North Queensland's first pre-season trial against the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon to get some miles back into his legs.

"He's looked a million dollars," coach Todd Payten told Fox League pre-game.

"It was clear for us all to see how much he was missed. We were looking for a short stint out of him today to build some confidence going into next week's main trial.

"He's in great shape." 

Starting on the right edge, Luki made an immediate impact when he put the Cowboys on the board in the fifth minute, barging past some flimsy Canterbury defence.

"Welcome back to the NRL," Andrew Voss said on commentary.

"He's an incredibly impressive young man, but on-field the best is ahead of him."

Steve Roach described him as a "tremendous player" after his early try as the Cowboys shot out of the gates with a 28-6 lead at half time.

Luki finished his stint with an eye-catching seven runs for 79 metres, as well as six tackles without a miss before being taken off at Kogarah Oval.

Robert Derby crossed for a first-half double, while Clifford and Jaxon Purdue both had some nice touches in the halves as they battle to partner Tom Dearden for round one when they square off against the Newcastle Knights in Las Vegas.

"There was a lot of talk from up there that he wanted to be a five-eighth," Kieran Foran said of young gun Purdue during the Fox coverage.

"It will be interesting to see whether Todd persists with that or whether he puts him back to the centres. It's another one to watch closely."

Canterbury started to turn the tables in the second half and it was Craig Fitzgibbon's son Aaymon who struck first, diving onto a deft grubber kick from Joseph Teaupa.

"What a moment for the family," Voss said on commentary.

"The youngest player on show here today and look at his face, he can't hide the smile."

Teaupa added another two try assists from grubber kicks, narrowing the margin heading into the final 10 minutes of the contest.

Mason Barber stopped the Bulldogs' comeback dead in its tracks when he scored in the 75th minute, before Mikey Nassar scored a late consolation try for the Dogs.

Both teams will play another trial game next weekend before their Vegas season opener on Sunday, March 1 (AEDT).