In a five-part series this masthead will re-examine the twists and turns of the 2023 NRL season to unpack how and why the Cowboys regressed.

Part 3 looks at an unforgettable night at Leichhardt Oval in May that exposed North Queensland’s fragile mentality.

Have you read Part 2: A shaky start disrupted by forced changes?Read it first here.

PART 3: MAULED BY TIGERS DURING LEICHHARDT NIGHTMARE

It was the shocking result no one saw coming.

A true anomaly that caught even the most avid NRL prognosticators by surprise.

Wests Tigers, who recently locked up their second wooden spoon in as many years, looked like the Harlem Globetrotters as they scored 11 converted tries during an absolute rugby league masterclass, finishing 66-18.

Cowboys fans were left feeling like it was 2021 all over again.

It was the first time Wests had scored 50 or more points in 2,929 days – since round 25, 2015, when they beat the Warriors 50-16 with 2005 grand final hero Pat Richards scoring 18 points himself – and it was a new club record for most points scored in a match.

So how did the NRL’s cellar dwellers ambush a team touted as a premiership contender?

North Queensland had enjoyed a mini-revival, buoyed by an inspiring Magic Round win over the Sydney Roosters where they looked like they’d keep their opposition to nil until a late consolation try to Angus Crichton, followed by a convincing 42-22 beat down of the Dragons in Townsville.

Confidence was high despite the club’s record in Sydney and especially at the “eighth wonder of the world.”

Since the turn of the millennium, the Cowboys have won just two of their 11 games at Leichhardt Oval.

Todd Payten said as much ahead of the two-week “mini-camp” to Sydney to face the Tigers and Eels.

“Leichhardt historically hasn’t been a great venue for our club but we need to win, and our attitude needs to be spot-on,” Payten said.

“(The Tigers) are competing harder and longer and I think they’ve found a better balance in their team. They’re finding a good rhythm in the way they’re playing their footy.

“There’s a bit of ball-movement, there’s some offloading, they’ve got some power athletes too which will challenge our ruck and they’re just competing harder for longer so we’re going to have to turn up with a really strong attitude.”

Payten knew what was coming but whatever was said to try and generate that strong attitude didn’t work.

The Cowboys were outmuscled, out-tackled and outplayed from the opening whistle.

It took just five minutes for Stefano Utoikamanu to power over Reece Robson for a front-rower try which was all too common in the first half of the season, with the defensive grit of North Queensland’s middle defenders coming into question.

Trailing 18-6 with under a minute remaining in the half, Kyle Feldt failed to ground a ball in the in-goal allowing breakout star Jahream Bula to dot down for his first career NRL try.

It was another case of the Cowboys failing to close out a half of football and it would repeat in the second 40.

Soft goal line defence was on show again with Fonua Pole and Joe Ofahengaue both scoring tries eerily similar to the Tigers’ first, and the Cowboys were caught napping multiple times as offloads tore them apart.

To give the Tigers the credit they deserve, they truly rose for the occasion of Luke Brooks’ 200th NRL game and Wests’ record against the Cowboys is also their best against any current side at 55 per cent.

They were also coming off two wins in their last three outings including an impressive victory over Penrith and were completing at 90 per cent over that three-game period.

But for the entirety of the 2023 season, the Tigers’ second-largest total was the 24 points they scored against the Dolphins in round 25 and they only scored 20 or more points in five of their 24 games.

Payten blasted his team’s performance and it may have righted the ship as the Cowboys won six of their next seven.

“Very tough to watch. Probably the worst performance we’ve had as a team since I’ve been at the club,” Payten said.

“Everything to play for and we were beaten in all parts of the game across all parts of the field. It’s going to dent our confidence but it’s not a line through our season. We have to turn around again and turn around fast.”

Chad Townsend had a simple answer as to how the Cowboys lost.

“They ran harder than us and they tackled harder than us. It’s a simple game sometimes and they dominated from the start,” Townsend conceded.

“Collectively we just weren’t on tonight and it’s tough to take because I didn’t see that coming.

“This game is built on momentum and it just felt like they had the momentum the whole night.”

In part 4 of this masthead’s investigation into North Queensland’s failed season, we explore how a mid-season turnaround crumbled away leaving the Cowboys facing a must-win game against a full-strength Panthers to sneak into the top eight.