Exhilarating Cowboy Matty Bowen says he's keen to throw himself back into the representative fullback battle next season after receiving encouraging medical updates on his knee reconstruction.

Bowen will give current Test and Origin No.1s Billy Slater, Karmichael Hunt and Brett Stewart a decent head start in 2009, but says his enforced stint on the sidelines has only made him hungrier.

Rumours Bowen's progress since undergoing surgery, which involved attaching some of his own artificially grown cartilage to his knee joint, were behind schedule, surprised the 26 year-old try-scoring sensation.

There's even been speculation Bowen may not make it back for the start of the 2009 season.

But the flashy fullback shot down all the negative talk on Friday, declaring he was looking at being ready for the club's first or second trial game early next year.

"The knee is good," Bowen said.

"I saw the doctor two weeks ago and he's very happy with it and I've been seeing the physio every day.

"The doc has given me the thumbs up and all I have to do is get the muscle back in the quad.

"I've got my sights set on the trials and starting round one."

Bowen said he'd had an MRI scan this week to see if the cartilage had attached itself to the bone and had started growing.

"It feels good and there's no problem with the knee at the moment," he said.

"It won't all come back the day I step back out, I'll have to work hard at getting those things back into my game.

"There's been no suggestion I won't have the same speed or be able to step off the leg."

Bowen acknowledged the quality of the fullbacks he will be up against next year, but was looking forward to the challenge.

"It's a hard position to be top dog," he said.

"I've been watching them all year and hopefully when I get my knee right I'll be back and hopefully put my hand up for representative footy again."

Bowen said the Cowboys, who finished second last, had too many injuries to overcome this season but had enough talent under new coach Neil Henry to be a premiership threat in 2009.

"We've bought well and we've got Neil Henry as a coach and a good team to get to the semi-finals," he said.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP