[4] Born in Newcastle, New South Wales while his father worked as a veterinarian in the city, Bowman and his family moved to Proserpine, Queensland when he was one.

[6][7] In 1994, Bowman signed with the newly established North Queensland Cowboys after being spotted by head coach Grant Bell playing for Proserpine.

[8] In Round 16 of the 1995 ARL season, he made his first grade debut for the Cowboys, starting at centre in their 16–30 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

[citation needed] In 2000, Bowman had a breakout season in which he started 20 games at centre, scoring eight tries, and was named the Cowboys' Player of the Year, an award he shared with Julian O'Neill.

In Game 1 of the 2003 State of Origin series, one minute after coming off the bench, he suffered medial ligament and cartilage damage to his left knee in a tackle that would see him sidelined for four weeks.

[citation needed] In 2004, Bowman began the season as the Cowboys' captain before being replaced by new recruit Travis Norton in Round 7.

[14] On 30 August, the club announced that their Player of the Year award would be renamed the Paul Bowman Medal in his honour.

[17] He ended his first grade career as the last Cowboys foundation player to retire, playing 203 games for the club over 13 seasons.