Welcome to the Bovine Bulletin, a regular, independent newsletter about the North Queensland Cowboys.
After the first two games of the season, I was prepared to come in to your inbox and say, “I told you so.” I may still do that later in the season. For now, the North Queensland Cowboys have shown themselves not to be one of the four worst teams in the competition and that ain’t nothing.
The Titans and Dragons are definitely down there and they were both comprehensively beaten by the Cowboys. The rest of the bottom four would be two of Melbourne, Manly, Redcliffe, Parramatta or Canberra, depending on which flogging you most recently happened to catch in Vlandoball II: The Re-Vlandoing.
The win over the Storm was by far the most impressive line on the Cowboys’ 2026 resume. It may prove not to count for much by season’s end, given the Storm’s own travails, and it doesn’t really make up for 2017, but it is something.
The primary thing you’d have to be happy about was the perseverance. Down 16-10 at halftime and then conceding immediately after half time would see most teams give up. When Will Warbrick scores his fourth try, potentially ending a bubbling comeback, to see the Cowboys keep at it and eventually prevail is at the very least encouraging. To do it while Jahrome Hughes is flapping his arms about is gravy.
The Cowboys, and Todd Payten, might be up against it but they haven’t quit.
St George Illawarra are a complete basketcase on the field and off the field seem to be either considering dropping “St George Illawarra”, or possibly “Illawarra” if you believe some of the stupider people on the internet. While they only put up the defence of a particularly well paid reserve grade team, the Dragons game allowed the Cowboys to flex their attacking muscles for the first time in a while. We haven’t seen Purdue slice through the line quite that easily, quite that frequently, in 2026. In contrast to the Vegas game, Dearden and Drinkwater both looked like they had something like fresh ideas.
As I said in my recap on Wednesday, that gives you an idea of the team’s floor and it ain’t that flawed. The defence seems like a perpetual work in progress but scoring points with a bad defence is better than not scoring points with a bad defence.
Consider the big picture. With the poor results of last year, and the associated clearing out of assistant coaches, it has been very clear that Todd Payten’s time at Railway Estate is on its last legs. It is not beyond saving but the minimum for Payten to keep his job would have to be a finals appearance. A 3-2 start is a good way to get there.
The counter is that Payten’s teams always have a purple patch of form. It may be that this year’s patch coincided with the easiest part of the draw, playing two of the worst teams in the league and catching the Storm with their pants down. Only more games is going to prove or disprove that. A Broncos team hitting its stride, facing the defending premiers at a full Suncorp, could hardly provide a better test. It is time for North Queensland to decide what kind of season its going to have.
Let’s end on a bright note:
The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys have agreed to a four-year contract extension with Jaxon Purdue, running through the end of the 2030 NRL season.
Born and bred in Mackay, Purdue was identified later in his schoolboy career, signing with the club on an Elite Emerging contract in Year 11 in 2022. He would quickly emerge as one of the most elite talents to come through the Cowboys Academy Programs in the past decade.
Good signing, good player. I was wrong about the move to five-eighth, so I hope the next coach can figure out what to do with him. Or just teach him to tackle.
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