Ian Dunemann and his brother Andrew became the first pair of brothers to play for the club when Andrew joined the Cowboys (a professional Australian rugby team founded in 1995) in 1996 and they started in the halves together in a loss to the Sydney Roosters.
In doing so, they became the first pair of brothers to play for the club. In 1996, Dunemann's younger brother Andrew joined the Cowboys. In Round 10 of the 1996 season, the brothers started in the halves together in a 1438 loss to the Sydney City Roosters. In 1995, Dunemann joined with the newly established North Queensland Cowboys. The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. Since their foundation in 1995, the club has appeared in three grand finals (2005, 2015 and 2017) winning in 2015, and has reached the finals ten times. 
