The North Queensland Cowboys have proved an enigma in the 2023 NRL season. Discovering the root cause of their issues would take a detective the likes of Hercule Poirot many years. There are many worrying symptoms, however, that point strongly towards lack of discipline being the main cause of their struggles.
The Cowboys are full of talent up and down the park, but they seem to have little discipline. Aside from Tom Dearden, Jake Granville, Valentine Holmes and Reuben Cotter, the rest of the side has seemed disinterested.
Individual players have stepped up in various games and individuals like Kyle Feldt are improving as the season goes on, but besides the four players mentioned previously, nobody can hold his head high and claim that he’s played each match to the best of his ability.
The two big symptoms that point to a larger problem are tackling and discipline. The last three matches (two losses and a win) have shown both the good and bad sides of the Cowboys. Two weeks ago against the Warriors (a game the Cowboys lost), they missed 37 tackles, conceded nine penalties and made seven errors compared to 16, seven and 10 by the Warriors.
Then, during Anzac Round at home against the Knights, the Cowboys missed 21 tackles, conceded just three penalties and made 14 errors compared to 47, seven and 10 for the Knights. They won that game.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Against the Sharks this week, the Cowboys missed 38 tackles, conceded nine penalties, made nine errors and had two players sin-binned, both for the second time this season.
Even worse, many of the Cowboys players seemed disinterested, not wanting to be out there playing.
Put simply, Todd Payten’s side are playing more like Mr Hyde than Dr Jekyll at the moment and, as the coach says every press conference, they are beating themselves with their discipline.
Unfortunately, the worst offenders are some of their senior players. Coen Hess and Jeremiah Nanai have both been sin-binned twice this season.
Sure, Cowboys fans (myself included) can bleat about whether some of the penalties deserved sin-binning, but the officials are cracking down on the way tackles are being made and on player safety. Both of them have played enough footy to know that and to be able to adjust.
Similarly, Murray Taulagi had no excuse for his brain snap against the Knights and was fortunate not to have missed time for his shoulder charge.
Regardless of these offences, the players seem not to care very much about their actions because they happen over and over again on the field. I can’t profess to know everything about footy, but there is something not right in Townsville.
The club’s coaches clearly need to figure out a different way to speak to or challenge the team from week to week as their current way of speaking does not work.
After the Sharks game, a reporter asked Scott Drinkwater a question about his high shot on Siosifa Talakai for which he was placed on report. Drinkwater, totally confused, turned to his coach and asked, “Was I placed on report?”
A bemused and embarrassed Payten hid his head in his hands and nodded. The reporter and press conference concluded with, “Well, it mustn’t have been that bad then.” Drinkwater’s inability to recall something for which he was placed on report summarises the Cowboys season.
Advice, help and training seems to go in one ear and out the other, leading to complacency and a drop in standards across the board.
When will the team improve? Only when each player commits to playing for each other, to improving discipline and standards and to turning up each week the best version of themselves that they can be.
mushi
Roar Guru
Let's also look at how meteoric their rise was last year. There was always some mean reversion on the table and also a young team "leaping" forward takes teams by surprise. The next year sometimes surprises them as teams adjust. How far it has snapped back is a surprise but perhaps some patience is in order.
3 R M
Roar Rookie
Gibbo there is a good podcast that has been going for a few years called 95 North always worth a listen over a couple of bevies no bs just about the facts, unlike some other NQ focused ones that are really just full of filler. Scotty Pryde has also done a good article on ZT this week which dissects where we have been really bad, and it's in some detail also worth a read. Maroon Observer did a broad article involving us the week before. None of it is flattering and in one way or another they are all accurate. Thanks for the article mate and keep them coming if you can, as I always enjoy them.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Fair point on Chad. However, I think I saw him fewer than 10 times last year force a repeat set. I’d love to see him grubbed to the in-goal and force opponents into a repeat set. He often does this little chip bombs that aren’t shallow and aren’t deep and don’t really do a whole lot. Doesn’t give the kick chase a whole lot to work with.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
It’s a combination of both, I think. A lot of the players sold out last year and had something to disprove. This season, they’ve bought into their own hype a bit too much and are living and dying by the sword, or so it seems. The loss of Tabuai-Fidow and Gilbert hurt, but they’ve still got most of their starting 17 from last year. Complacency and some of their vets showing their ages have a lot to do with it. Tamou looked like he needs a walking frame…till he got injured. Hiku isn’t the same player he was. Townsend has clearly regressed from last year. It’s a combination of both.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
I’m not so sure Feldt is on a decline. I think he’s better this season than last and he was pretty average last. He’s only 29, but he hasn’t been amazing the past couple of years. I reckon 1-2 more years of decent Feldt and then he’ll just implode.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Geez you’d think as a former English teacher I’d know this! I learned something. Thank you!
Dumbo
Roar Rookie
Gibbo - Just FYI: "Uninterested" - Doesn't give a s**t "Disinterested" - Unbiased, unprejudiced Yeah, call me a grammar nazi, but you might as well use the right word as the wrong one :=)
NQR
Roar Rookie
It’s mostly due to having far too many out. Then we have all the other factors like a World Cup and a shortened preseason. I don’t think anyone thought losing Gilbert, Lemuelu and Hammer would be so significant. Luciano and Luki would be extremely handy right now and they literally haven’t been available as yet. I wonder how long a court appearance would take for a high profile player? The fact nothing is going to happen shows the no fault policy may need revision. When it comes to confidence i really think missing so many senior players.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
I absolutely agree with your last point ,ba couple of touch ups will point out some realities to Payten But I disagree with your first I don't see over inflated Egos and I don't see a lot of hype. It's a pretty humble team. I see a team with a poor Roster outside of a top 17 with a few players ( Chad and Hiku and Feldt etc) who are on a downhill trajectory. We had a dream run with injuries last year and that couldn't happen again.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
That's reasonably fair but just remember one thing. Nanai was Only 19 and in his first full season last year. Origin and a World Cup has put him back 12 months. It was way to much for him. He will shine next year.
KenW
Roar Rookie
The Cowboys are currently in 15th, working back through their last 5 years of finishing positions we have: 3rd, 14th, 14th, 14th, 13th. Unfortunately for Cowboys fans this year isn't the anomaly, last year was.
Dutski
Roar Guru
Drinkwater has always had the ability to have an absolute brain snap and then continue playing like nothing happened. Now we know why. He just doesn’t register that he’s done anything wrong.
Adz Sportz
Roar Guru
Missed tackles, ineffective contact, slow line speed, poor spacing, lack of communication, one-out rubbish coming out of yardage, horrible kicking game, terrible discipline, no energy, no enthusiasm, piss poor attitude. I see players who earned rep jumpers and rich contract upgrades, resulting in a team of overinflated egos who believed their own hype. In 2022, the Cowboys prided themselves on defence, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, discipline and playing the game the right way... a set of standards which they have not met at all in 2023. This is the loss Cowboys needed to have. Close losses can often cover up the cracks, but their shortcomings this season are now fully and indisputably exposed.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Jeremiah Nanai can post his Origin jersey to David Fafita, Nanai will not be needing it this year
3 R M
Roar Rookie
I know Chad has his limitations, finding the ground when kicking and having the speed to take on the line/and cover defensively on quick shifts, but we new that when we signed him. He was undisciplined in the first few games but he puts in as always, covering as best he can on line breaks, he is almost always there and has saved some trys this year because of it. Last year was his best season for a number of years so it would be hard to replicate. Like last year (as he is relatively consistant on where he kicks year to year) his kicks are only as good as his chasers. So it goes back the energy that we waste defending the dumb footy mistakes. Playing with only 3 metre eater forwards out of 8 possibilities is one thing that's annoying but without dispensation we got only Price left (Sadrugu is doing 15 minute cameos in Qcup) and he is about where Gilbert was in his first season in Qcup which is good but not quite there yet. Hessy has got it wrong a few times but has been really putting in. He has been unjustly penalised here and there as well, but like every one in the team the solution is to not sabotage the game plan by stupidity.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
When you look at the Cowboys 3 wins, Round 1 was an awful game of football where the Cows played well for the first 20 minutes in hot humid conditions against the Raiders, and then barely snuck home by a point. The win against the Titans. A reasonable win, against an unimpressive side but probably should have won by more if they made the most of all the first half ball they were given. Similarly with the Knights win. How do we evaluate that? Did they play the Knights who a week early pushed the Panthers (all be it in a poorly executed game), or the Knights who 6 days later came out and put up one of the worst defensive displays you could bare to imagine giving up 15 line breaks. Either way, against a below average team they only scraped home at home. If i were to guess what the problem was. I would say either it is just as simple as everyone (coaches and players) put everything into last year, which would have been highly emotional and they played and tried so hard, playing beyond their ability, that to continue at that level was too much to ask. Or, it is just a culmination of a perfect storm with veterans like Townsend and Hiku etc. are just flat out stinking, while players like Robson, Nanai and Taulagi who played at an amazing level last year, are struggling to find what made them click (hint both Robson and Nanai have signed long term extensions in the off season and Taulagi re-signed in September so all are no longer playing for contracts), and the lack of depth with the loss of Fiddow and Gilbert to the expanding demands of the NRL.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
3RM its called 2nd year Syndrome - some teams think its just gunna happen like last year!
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
I wonder how Nani's career pans out from now on? Some of the praise he was getting last season was super high and I was interested if he could keep scoring tries at a rate Beaver Menzies would be proud of. I do remember thinking that he was getting a lot of those tries from kicks and thinking that it's very hard to repeat that performance. Holmes was exceptional last season but centre is a position which is possibly reliant on having a well performed team around you more than most positions.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Really good points! I wasn’t aware of the time spent practicing slowing down PTB. Definitely can see the impact in the number of 6 against against us and penalties for 10m and things like that. I dislike calling out players also, but in the cases of Nanai and Hess, both are experienced enough not to be making stupid tackles. I do think a lot of our struggles are conditioning issues. Those infamous runs up Castle Hill at all hours of the day and night produced a toughness that is sorely lacking in season ‘23. We do need our gun forwards back, and as much as I love Jakey Granville, he’s neither a prop nor a lock. One of our poorest performers this season has been Chad Townsend, but with no halves other than Ben Hampton on the books, then I’m not sure what else we can do.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Lucky they extended the coaches contract.