The criticism around the North Queensland Cowboys is growing louder on the back of their embarrassing 44-6 loss to the Sharks, with a Queensland legend suggesting their stars might have become “too comfortable” after their 2022 success.
The Cowboys were outplayed from the opening siren on Thursday night, with Siosifa Talakai’s second minute try setting the scene for what was a grim night for the men from Townsville.
Despite a “gritty” win against the Knights in Round 8, the Cowboys weren’t able to go on with it on the road, continuing a surpsingly dismal star to the year.
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Cowboys hooker Reece Robson dissects his side’s “frustrating” start to the season and opens up on when the team realised something wasn’t quite right. Robson also looks back at his rugby league journey to become one of the top No. 9s in the game. Listen HERE
The Cowboys were the cinderella story of the 2022 season, only one win away from a Grand Final appearance, despite many expecting them not to threaten.
After nine games last season, they were third on the ladder with six wins and three losses, only allowing 113 points.
12 months later, they have the inverse win-loss record (3-6) and have leaked a whopping 213 points, 100 more than this stage last season.
Maroons great Gorden Tallis believes the Cowboys may have beceme too “comfortable” on the back of the success of last season.
“Four or five of them got Queensland jerseys, then a few of them went to the World Cup, a few got upgraded in their contracts,” Tallis said on the Late Show with Matty Johns.
“Maybe they got a little bit comfortable when they came back. They didn’t have the same preseason.
“How they played last year and how good they were, people start coming at you and other teams want to model their game after you.
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“I think a lot of those guys are picking and choosing whether they put in the effort and you can see that in their performance.”
Tallis said it was a disappointing performance after the Cowboys showed positive signs against the Knights last week.
“I know that they are down on troops but I thought they would hang in there and build on what they did last week,” Tallis said.
“They’ve gone back to a couple of weeks ago where the outside players looked like they haven’t defended much together and there’s not a lot of trust in the system.
“It was really poor. It was really soft.”
Matty Johns added: “North Queensland were diabolical tonight. From the first set of six, you could see there was just no energy in the Cowboys for whatever reason,”
Co-panellist Brian Fletcher agreed, believing there’s stark differences all over the park from last year to this year.
“They have no punch in attack. Remember last year when Reece Robson was scoring tries for fun because they were getting quick play the balls.
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“In defence, obviously there is an issue, but it’s their attack as well.
Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt was brutally honest post-game when asked about the side’s performance.
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“We started the game the complete opposite to the way we spoke about in the sheds and all week,” Feldt told Johnathan Thurston on Nine’s post-game coverage.
“You can’t give a quality team like the Sharks the amount of possession we did. We just couldn’t defend our errors.
“We spoke about that all year, and the first set on our try line, they go straight through. Unacceptable at the moment.”
Coach Todd Payten struck a dejected figure in his post-game press conference, admitting his side’s performance was “far from pretty.”
“I’m not offering up any excuse, that was far from NRL standard tonight,” Payten said.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Cowboys next weekend, as they attempt to get their season back on track against the Roosters in Magic Round.
