NRL 2021: Cowboys stars playing for their futures under new coach Todd Payten
North Queensland are undertaking major succession planning as they prepare for 22 players to become free agents over the next 18 months. And there are some familiar names in the firing line.
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The Cowboys are facing a contract clean-out with Josh McGuire on the verge of being released and big-name trio Jordan McLean, Coen Hess and Justin O’Neill under pressure to perform or perish.
News Corp understands McGuire could be at the Dragons within a fortnight as part of a straight-swap deal that could see Adam Clune depart the Red V to bolster North Queensland‘s scrumbase.
But others are in the firing line, with coach Todd Payten and football-operations boss Micheal Luck undertaking succession planning as the Cowboys prepare for 22 players to become free agents over the next 18 months.
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Former Queensland Origin duo Hess and O‘Neill are off-contract at the end of 2022, as is ex-Test prop McLean, who is one of the Cowboys’ highest-paid players on around $750,000 a season.
Others playing for their futures this season include utility back Scott Drinkwater, Ben Hampton, Corey Jensen and Jake Granville, who turns 33 next February.
North Queensland are under pressure to rejuvenate their roster after three consecutive bottom-four finishes and recruitment chief Dane Campbell flew to Sydney last week to meet with a host of player managers.
The Cowboys have cash to spend following the medical retirement of $1 million playmaker Michael Morgan on Friday and Luck said the club is putting their roster under the microscope.
“I won‘t go into names but we have a responsibility to put together a good squad,” he said.
“We have some good young guys coming through and a few rookies coming through are potentially development-list players.
“Our job on top of that is to put an NRL roster together that can help our talented young guys.
“We need to do what this club is built for and that‘s to give young players from north Queensland a chance to play NRL, but we also need to be ultra competitive until those guys come though.
“We’re looking at our options at the moment.”
The Cowboys have made inquiries regarding off-contract Souths halfback Adam Reynolds and Queensland Origin forward Kurt Capewell, while his Maroons teammate, Mackay product Dane Gagai, is on the open market.
In February, Payten and Cowboys legend Johnathan Thurston met with boom Brisbane halfback Tom Dearden, who is off-contract at season’s end and has yet to field a new deal from the Broncos.
Payten admits the Cowboys need to get better at selling the club to prospective recruits given the tyranny of distance in Townsville.
“I don‘t necessarily agree we have to pay more, but we are at some sort of disadvantage geographically,” he said.
“Over my time as a player you would see the airport, the hotel, the ground and maybe Flinders Street so they (potential recruits) don‘t get a good scope of what Townsville is like as an area.
“It’s our opportunity to make sure if we do try and sign someone we bring them up and show them around and meet the people.
“Our new training building and the stadium are assets, definitely, and for guys that have families, it‘s a great town.”
I CAN FIX THIS MESS: PAYTEN INSISTS HE’S THE MAN FOR THE JOB
Rookie Cowboys mentor Todd Payten insists he isn’t doubting his ability as an NRL coach and is adamant he has the skill set to haul North Queensland out of their worst form crisis in almost 20 years.
As he prepares for Sunday’s clash against Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval, Payten opened up to The Sunday Mail about the Cowboys’ dismal start, his self-belief and why the club is not living up to the values of the people of north Queensland.
When the Cowboys sacked Paul Green last year and handed Payten a three-year deal, the NRL coaching greenhorn was so highly rated even club legend Johnathan Thurston backed him to engineer a North Queensland revival.
But after a month as Green’s successor, Payten has yet to register a win. The 42-year-old is a coach under siege at 0-4. He has been pilloried for criticising star forward Jason Taumalolo. There are concerns about his body language and brutal critiques in press conferences. To compound it all, he must navigate the Cowboys’ recovery mission without his playmaking co-captain Michael Morgan, who announced his shock retirement on Friday.
On the surface, it all seems too much for a rookie coach to handle. But Payten remains confident he can steer the club through the post-Thurston and Morgan era as the Cowboys risk missing the finals for a fourth consecutive season this year. It would be North Queensland’s worst seasonal stretch since 2003.
“I wouldn’t say I’m doubting myself at all,” Payten said.
“Yes ... I am questioning things and I am thinking of how things can be done better at this club.
“It’s consuming in that way but I honestly don’t doubt my ability to turn this around.
“I don’t doubt who we have got in our organisation on the staff and I don’t doubt our collective ability as a club.
“It’s been challenging. The first few weeks my ego was bruised, but I am pretty pragmatic about how we can fix it and get on with it and that’s what I am doing.
“I’m staying positive. We just need to jag a win to spring some confidence and belief, then we can go from there, but I know we have a lot of work to do.
“I was under no illusions coming in how difficult it would be.”
Part of Payten’s rebuilding methodology involves Cowboys players honouring the psyche of north Queenslanders. For 33 years, the Knights have built their football around the blue-collar roots of Newcastle’s mining region.
Payten, an assistant to Green when the Cowboys won their historic first premiership in 2015, believes North Queensland’s brand of football must reconnect culturally to the folk that fork out their hard-earned cash to watch them.
The Cowboys have conceded 92 points in the past fortnight against the Titans and Cronulla.
“I want our style of footy to reflect the type of people we represent in north Queensland,” he said.
“The people of this north Queensland region are honest, hardworking, resilient and unassuming.
“At the moment we are a long way from that.
“But in time that’s what I want our game model to get to. I want to see that style of footy in this club.
“At the moment, how we are performing is not reflecting that.
“Our supporter base are pretty solid, but every fan base in the NRL just wants to see consistent effort. As a coach, I want to bring that attitude to the club.”
The Cowboys’ clash with Tigers on Sunday represents a trip down memory lane for Payten, a front-row prodigy who made his top-grade debut at 17 years old for Canberra in 1996.
But his best years were at the Tigers. He spent eight seasons at the club and was a member of their fairytale 2005 premiership win. Ironically, he clinched his premiership ring against the Cowboys, scoring the try which sealed the Tigers’ 30-16 victory in the grand final.
“Everyone wants to win a comp and I’ve learned how hard it is to do it,” he said.
“Looking back at that group (the Tigers team of 2005), we didn’t have any egos. The older guys went out of their way to look after the young guys. If we had a social get together, everyone would be there, so we had a great connection as a club. It has an impact on how your football goes for sure.
“The thing I liked was Tim Sheens (Tigers coach) wasn’t afraid to play blokes at a young age. He did that with me (Sheens gave Payten his debut at Canberra) and several other players such as Benji Marshall, Liam Fulton and Chris Lawrence.
“He put trust in the players and thought if they were good to go, just believe in them and let them have a go.”
Sheens‘ mindset is now shaping Payten’s style as he looks to cultivate the next wave of Cowboys talents headlined by Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Gilbert, Griffin Neame, Ben Condon and Heilum Luki.
“We have some really good young kids here and it’s important we develop them as much as we can,” he said.
“But I don’t want to throw them all into the NRL at the same time and leave them exposed.
“I am mindful of who to put in the team and when. I really believe we have seven or eight young kids under our squad at the moment that could kick on and play some decent first grade over time, but I have to be smart with it.”
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