Round 1 Predicted Teams - Cowboys: Stability the key as Payten looks to take next big leap

Cowboys were similar with talent losses Kikau and Tamou. Brandon Smith, Uele, J. Hughes, Ponga Lowe and others. This year QLD Origin winners Gilbert and Hammer are gone.

I'm expecting these guys to be strong again. It's always a good start to begin fit and Payten seems to be good at that. I'm not sure letting Hammer go was wise for depth reasons but he and a rotation position was wasted playing him off the bench. IMO Dunn might be the one filling the edge roll while LL and Luki make their way back. No doubt Nanai gets a good pay day but I hope they keep it reasonable. There is significant talent waiting who need top ups to keep the team balanced. Good luck to the boys.

Sorry, also forgot about Leniu.

I’d suggest that Penrith developed O’Sullivan, Burton, Katoa , Puru , Blore .. There’s plenty of others from the Jersey Flegg , NSW Cup that have been bought too. Not just at the end of the last season , but every year. Hopgood is not from Penrith, but developed by Penrith. True , Kikua isn’t from Penrith or Korisau . Still, even Kikua was at Penrith a long time & made his first grade debut at Penrith. However, I was more talking about all the young players that are Panthers juniors. Including Crighton who may go after next season. Maybe Martin the year after. Where’s any allowance for clubs who develop their own players? The Cowboys will find the same things will happen to them. It’s not up to Penrith to really have to develop their best young players for the Bulldogs, Dolphins, Wests, Parramatta, Roosters , Cronulla etc. In any case, it’s the players being bought away from Penrith that will take Penrith backwards. As much as other clubs getting better, was my point. I am absolutely correct about that. :thumbup:

He has some good attributes but he always seems to pick up injuries and often plays with a lack of maturity. That can turn around though.

I think Rubes will get better not fitness wise but with his game play . Mia petered off a bit towards the end of last season but he is still young but I think he needs another full preseason. Taulagi looks solid he is a talented winger and he knows he's got this season before the next crop starts pushing into the top 30. But we haven't seen the best of him. All of the world cup players will come back better even if they loose a third of the preseason.We've got 3 young halves on the books Jimmmy so they are onto things and Chad doesn't need to do much more than last season. It is a concern though he was really good last year and a drop in his form would definitely affect us. I hope they keep playing good footy Jimmmy. The young guys in this side will go over the 50 game mark this season so they will be considered to be experienced by finals if we make them.

Yeah I said Neame was a keeper after one game of NRL . He will be top notch this year . I always worry about the Cows though, mate. Was 2022 just too big a year for Cotter , Tualagi and Nanai? Will they back it up? Has the Chad got another year like that in him.? Will Hiku revert to being mistake central.? Can Drinkwater stop being an escort to the try line? Under it all I'm mildly confident. I seriously can't wait. Christmas comes in March .

Yeah , I agree with you mostly. We had heaps of players jump towards their potential all at the same time. If performance varies randomly around a set point there could be a regression. With young players and poorly coached players though natural physical and mental progression can mask a small form regression. I mentioned players who I don't think have reached their physical and emotional peak. I think , Cotter, Tualagi , Robson, Drinkwater, and Hiku could possibly regress after peaks but it's a random thing so who knows. I do agree though that with a couple of exceptions , Payten needs to hold fast if results are a bit under last year

Panthers you guys are producing them but there is nowhere for them to advance that would be a big reason why they are leaving even if you could pay them $200000 would they still want to stay in the regies . You are right there is a big difference in the amount of TPAs between clubs and in some cases it's obvious. Panthers lost two great players this season but you didn't develop them. you replaced them with your own juniors it's not so bad.

It’s not the comp catching up with Penrith. It’s the way that the caps are set & certain clubs having an advantage over other . With independent backers , large amounts of money from sponsors etc. So Penrith is forced to go backwards & even lose their own locally produced players.

To be fair the cows were a freakish outcome last year every potential item turned into production. Sometimes the year after emerging can be struggle as the league adapts, I hope if it is a tougher than expected year they don't baby + bath water it

Yeh Jimmy I hope for 5 or 6 it could go better or worse, the bottom 8 teams have done some overhauls, Manly and the Bronco's form was variable last year but at their peak form, they are a lot higher on the ladder than where they finished. So there won't be so many easy games this season I think. If your looking for a dominant prop though we have Griff as you've mentioned. 3 preseasons in now and last year he was non stop when he came off the bench. Payton played him early to punch into the add line in the preliminary? Final loss. He looks better the more he plays and he would be one of the reasons we signed Tamou again.

Morning all and happy 2023. May it be scandal free for the NRL, all coaches and players see out the terms of their contracts and the term "fiasco" doesn't appear on any league related headline. Good luck to the cows this year. Sick team. Must say any team that has Elliott, Shibasaki and Gosiewski on their roster should be the dragons and be rubbish, but at the Cows they will probably be fully sick.

I expect the Cowboys to be a formidable team this year. I'll be keeping an eye on Gosiewski, who i think will probably be a standout under Payten.

At first I looked at the bench and went, na no way but it could go this way. Hessy is listed as a 2nd rower again on the squad list and could go well with Deardon and Holmes on the opposite side he has played on. The bench in the early rounds could go: Dunn, Sadrugu, Neame and Tamou. With the first 2 as back line cover. It will be hard slog to make the 8 this year. I think the comp will catch up a bit more with Penrith but as a squad the NQ players need to improve on last year if they are to be pushing for the top 4. Sadrugu came back early from the world cup lay off, it's good to see and it could be enough to get him a start. Looch is one of the players I wanted to see do a big preseason but he must be on leave. Luki looks to be tracking well in recovery and will make a selection headache for Payton in April if we are doing OK.

I am not good with predicting the Cows fortunes. I thought we would just miss the 8 last year and thought we were a lock for top 4 in 2018. Still here goes. Neame , Leilua, Tommy will all be better players in 23. Watch out . Feldt is the only one who may get worse. Luki is a gun but will take time Jimmy will be fine off the bench. I have hope he can do a Benny Hannant for us. Strengths . We are a very resilient team. I love a team that can win from behind. We have good game plans, good coach, good goal kicker, good D, Tommy and Val . Weaknesses. We lack a dominant prop. ( Yes I know we have JT13). Put Matt Scott in this team and we are top 4 certainties. We can dither and clunk in red zone attack. Very frustrating. Our kicking game is good but not up there with Parra, Storm, Roosters, Panthers. Verdict. Hard to get the word out but 5th for mine.