Professional Career
Scott made his first-grade debut for the Cowboys in 2004, at the age of 18, in an NRL match against the Parramatta Eels. Scott broke his leg in the opening minutes of the match, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
Scott made his representative debut for Queensland in the 2006 State of Origin series. However, he was dropped from the Queensland team after a 17–16 defeat to New South Wales and would not play in another Origin fixture until 2009. Speaking in 2009, Scott said that at the time, he thought his removal from the 2006 team was "harsh", but that he "obviously didn't step up and deliver".
Scott's 2007 and 2008 seasons were affected by injuries, but a strong 2009 season saw him return to the Queensland team for the third and final match of the year's State of Origin series. That August he signed a new four-year contract with the Cowboys.
Scott was named the Cowboys' player of the year and players player for the 2010 season, though it was a poor season for the team, finishing 15th on the NRL ladder in front of only the Melbourne Storm, who had been stripped of all their premiership points due to salary cap breaches. Scott was Queensland's starting prop for all three matches of the year's State of Origin series and made his debut for the Australia national team in the season-ending Four Nations series. He was selected as Australia's starting prop for the series final against New Zealand, edging veteran Petero Civoniceva out of the side.
In 2011, Scott was appointed as the co-captain of the Cowboys, sharing the position with Johnathan Thurston, who had previously held it alone. He was also named the NRL's prop of the year in the Dally M Awards after missing out in 2010. His performance in Game 1 of the 2011 State of Origin series won him plaudits, with Brisbane newspaper The Courier Mail calling his "impact and workrate... enormous", and ABC Sport praising his "powerhouse display up front". He and fellow Queensland prop Petero Civoniceva ran the ball for a total of 301 metres during the match; their New South Wales counterparts only managed 71. Queensland won the match and went on to win the Origin series. The Cowboys returned to the NRL finals series, finishing in seventh place, and Scott was selected in the Australian squad to tour England for the Four Nations series. He scored the first try of the tournament, in Australia's 26–12 win over New Zealand; it was his first try as an international. During the tournament, the annual RLIF Awards dinner was held at the Tower of London and he was named prop forward of the year.
During the 2012 State of Origin series Scott's mother died, interrupting his preparation. However he played in all three games, helping extend Queensland's record winning streak to 7 consecutive series. At the end-of-season Test match against New Zealand in which Australia retained the Bill Kelly Memorial Trophy, Scott was named man-of-the-match.
Read more about this topic: Matthew Scott (rugby League)
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