North Queensland coach Paul Green sees red as Cowboys continue to tumble

THE Cowboys' winless run on the road continues to plague their season as coach Paul Green opts to move Johnathan Thurston to halfback.

The North Queensland Cowboys v Canberra Raiders from 1300 Smiles Stadium. Cowboys coach Paul Green before the match. Picture: Zak Simmonds

WELCOME to the coaching hot seat, Paul Green.

The rookie North Queensland mentor was on Wednesday forced to fend off multiple questions about crisis, panic stations and finals chances.

The Cowboys' winless run on the road continues to plague their season and Green has opted to move skipper Johnathan Thurston to halfback for the first time in three years.

PRESSURE ON GREEN AS COWBOYS STRUGGLE

Cowboys Johnathan Thurston looks on after a Newcastle try.

But at 6-8 and 12th on the NRL ladder, the Cowboys are one win ahead of where they stood at the same point last year with easily a better defensive record.

That has not stopped the blowtorch being applied to Green, who is beginning to understand the pressure that comes with leading a team that on paper should be much closer to the top four.

“I never said anything about top four or top eight, everyone else wants to talk about that stuff,” Green snapped.

“I said for us it's about playing consistently well week in week out. It took us a while to get to that position.

“Since the Manly game we've played a lot more consistently.

ROAD WOES TO END JT’S TITLE DREAM

The North Queensland Cowboys coach Paul Green.

“That has been made more difficult in recent weeks with injuries ... there is still improvement in us but we're still in there working hard.

“It's certainly not panic stations yet. We just need to defend a bit better and stick together, we need to stick together when pressure comes on.”

While the Cowboys are coping with a tough injury run — Matt Scott, Brent Tate, Ray Thompson, Lachlan Coote and Gavin Cooper — headlining their casualty list, they have still only used 22 players this year while the Gold Coast Titans are up to 29.

Asked if the injuries had pushed the club into crisis, Green was again on the counter-attack.

North Queensland coach Paul Green at training.

“It's not a crisis, it's footy,” he said.

“It's a tough part of the year for us, we always knew that. If you look at the draw if we had everyone fit and healthy it would still be tough part of the year for us.

“We're in the middle of Origin, we have a string of games away ... we always knew it would be a tough period but it's just been made a little tougher with the injuries we do have.

“It gives us an opportunity to show what character the club is made of.

“We're determined to get the job done and this is an opportunity for us this Saturday (against South Sydney), we will be right and knuckle down and band together and fight our way out.”