Cowboys and Sharks players are set to compete for the inaugural Paul Green Medal when the two club’s face off on Thursday night.
Green, 49, tragically passed away in August last year and the new award will honour the late great’s contributions to rugby league and both clubs.
After playing 162 first grade games across stints with the Sharks, Cowboys, Roosters, Eels and Broncos, Green became a successful coach.
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He also won the Rothmans Medal in 1995 during his time with the Sharks.
Green was Cowboys player No.92 and delivered the club’s only ever premiership as a coach in 2015, going on to record the most ever wins as a North Queensland coach with 87.
Green’s friend Shane Webcke said the medal was a great way to honour a person who gave so much to the game and the award will be handed to the player of the match.
“It’s a big occasion, hence why they’ve invited a lot of his old teammates and mates down,” Webcke said on SENQ.
“It’ll be nice, it’s a really nice thing that they’ve done to recognise Paul’s contribution to both of those clubs.”
Both clubs will be donating $5000 to the Australian Sports Brain Bank, an organisation which specialises in the research of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Following his death Green was found to have suffered from one of most “severe forms” CTE according to Michael Buckland from the Australian Sports Brain Bank.
Professor Buckland said Green had “an organic brain disease which robbed him of his decision-making and impulse control”.
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Webcke also said he was “inspired” by Green’s attitude to life.
“It’s very different losing a mate as it is losing a family member,” Webcke said.
“When I get a bit bogged down with the normal things that everybody does and every so often, I’ll find myself just thinking about him and you think nothing we do in life is all that important when you scale it all down to the things that really matter.
“He was an incredibly intelligent man but an incredibly driven bloke… I get inspired by people like Greeny because he’s just such a doer and a short while after that to lose him was devastating.
“I’ll always miss that side of him.”
Green’s son Jed is set to lead the Cowboys on the field on Thursday night alongside his daughter Emerson, who will lead the Sharks out.
