Neil Henry’s future as North Queensland coach is hanging by a thread after his star-studded NRL side slumped to their 10th defeat of the season at Canberra on Sunday.
The Cowboys were below-par in the first half to trail 18-0 at halftime before improving in the second period but going down 26-18 at a chilly Canberra Stadium.
The result leaves them languishing in 12th spot, four points outside the top eight.
Speculation has been rife for over a month that Henry will be relieved of his duties as a team containing the likes of Matt Scott, Johnathan Thurston, Brent Tate and James Tamou continually fail to fire.
Henry remained tight-lipped about his future after the Canberra game and said his side’s poor start made it too hard for them to catch a Raiders outfit that have won 11 successive matches at home.
“Trailing by 18 points certainly made it difficult,” Henry said.
“We knew the points were there, but we needed to be a lot better with the ball.”
Despite the loss, co-captain Matt Scott insists the Cowboys can still make the finals but said the clash with Manly in Townsville next weekend with all of their Origin stars unavailable was a massive game.
“There’s no doubt we’ve made it hard for ourselves, but I have a fair bit of confidence in the players we have,” Scott said.
“We have a fair bit of depth and recently we have shown we can lift when we have a fair few players out.
“We really need to win that game so we can go into the bye the following week with some confidence.”
Henry’s Brisbane rival Anthony Griffin is also under the pump after the Broncos capitulated in the final 20 minutes against Melbourne to go down 32-0 to Melbourne at AAMI Park on Friday night.
That result leaves the Broncos one place below the Cowboys on the ladder in 13th spot and in grave danger of missing the finals for only the second time in 22 years.
The last Brisbane coach to fail to finish in the top eight was Ivan Henjak in 2010 and he was sacked on the eve of the 2011 season with Griffin taking over the reins.
Brisbane are still to announce any major new signings for next season and are losing playmaker Corey Norman to Parramatta and are also set to lose centre Jack Reed for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.
The Gold Coast are currently the only Queensland side in a finals position but their eighth spot is looking increasingly precarious after Saturday’s 40-14 hammering by Penrith in Darwin.
Their problems have been compounded a by a litany of injuries to key players such as Jamal Idris, William Zillman and Greg Bird.
Glenn Innis
Guest
I agree the retirement of Payne combined with the loss of Segeyaro has killed them at the games focal point - dummy half.
The Koomz
Guest
Letting Segeyaro go was the single worst decision they have ever made.
David
Guest
Henry is another matter - how has he survived with a roster like the Cows ?
David
Guest
Broncs have been good for a long time though - whether they'll stick ith Griffin marginal I reckon
ferret
Guest
Time for Hook to realise 2013 is gone and start building combinations for 2014. The Prince and Wallace combination has FAILED. In most games this year the Broncos forwards have got the side into reasonable positions (i.e. the opposition's 20 metre line) only for the halves to fail to generate scoring opportunities. (Yes there were a couple of unlucky ones against the Storm but we still would have lost 32 - 6 or 32 - 12). They've signed Ben Hunt for 3 more seasons - well give him the remaining games starting in the halves to see what he can or cannot do. The NYC fullback is good. And where's Granville now we need some attack? Get the backrowers out of the backs (Reed, Maranta) and add some PACE. Hook has been too defensive and too conservative.
oikee
Guest
Only the NRL would allow all teams outside Sydney rot , rot on the vine. Early holiday's this year.