First Win for 2026 v Titans

I don't think it was a bust out the champagne kind of win on Sunday - we were at home, it was the Titans, and it was perhaps a closer match than you'd like. But it was still a win on Sunday.

We saw a mixture of good and bad things:

The good: Drinkwater in attack, Luki's involvement, good minutes for Lahrs, impact off Lodge of the bench, our handling (88% completion) in what seemed greasy gonditions

The bad: Drinkwater in defence, how clunky we looked going wide, the Chester high tackle

*Drinkwater is fully Jeckle & Hyde. Scored a ripper from inside his own half, made the break to set up the 1st for Muzz, and played a key role in our final try. Equally he had a hand in all 3 of the Titans tries. Frustrating. I still think the good outweighs the bad, but I can understand why some think differently. 

*Luki seems to be well and truely back after last year's knee reco. Didn't do anything spectacular, but he racked up 159m of running and was consantly a handful both coming out of our end or close to their line.

*We're kinda keeping Lahrs in cotton wool a bit, but it's good to see hom out there and playing good footy. 

*Lodge. I was critical of his signing, but he had a good impact yesterday. Good meters and came up with some strong efforts in defence

*Looking bad when we went wide. I was amazed how clunky it seemed - mistimed runs galore, players conceding for tackles so they wouldn't be penalised,  forwards getting in the way. It wasn't polished or slick. And it should be - both our centres are good ball players. Just wondering if it's a case of too many cooks and not enough people running strong lines. 

*Chester's high tackle. Pretty meaningless in the context of the game, but I've no doubt he'll get a week or 2 at the judiciary. Disappointing given he's growing into his centre role. Admittedly VV and Laybutt will be available for next week. 

Storm will be hard to beat next week - obviously a much sterner test than the Titans, especially with them coming off a loss. I do though feel that we kind of get a free swing at this - no expectation, nothing to lose

Put a fork in Payten, he's done.

Saturday was horrid. Fucking terrible.

We needed to bounce after Vegas, and we had every reason to. A good break from the last game, plenty of time to reflect, a team that was first up in their 2026 campaign, and we produced that. 28-2 at the break

I've been a big Payten backer, but I think he's now finished. Too many issues continue to fester under his reign. Our edge defence still sucks. Our halves combo still remains entirely unsettled. We continue to struggle horribly in the player recruitment landscape. 

I think the whys no longer matter. The fact is it's not working.

I will though say our top line players made some really costly mistakes on Saturday - BigJase, Luki, Reed, Drinkwater, Purdue. If your stars are letting the halfback push their way over from 5m out or dropping the ball out of dummy half, you're going to lose a hell of a lot of games.

I do though think the fading of the squad over the last 3 years has been a massive part of the problem. We lost Finefuiaki, we recruited Bateman. We lost Val and we've recruited Burns. McLean retired, and we're trying to make Neame work. It's like selling a 2025 Landcruiser and replacing it with a 2008 Pajero. Paulo, Lodge, Derby, Edwards, O'Donnell. I keep hearing that this is a great squad, but buggered if I can see it. Yes we do have some SOO level players, but Nanai is out, Dearden still stuggles at 7 at club level (where opposition teams can afford to load up on him in defence), and Luki is 2 weeks back off a long break and is still finding his way. Cotter's high intensity energiser bunny superpowers only become a factor in hard grinding games - something our team is unable to create. BigJase is now a 40 minute man tops, while Taulagi doesn't have massive impact being on the wing. 

I also think Todd is quite a conservative coach - we often don't kick at the end of sets preferring to handover deep in the corners, we don't often challenge for bombs, he prefers utility in his selections rather than impact (hence his love of Granville & Edwards). I just don't think you can afford to be risk adverse when your team isn't the strongest on paper. You have to be willing to gamble.

Dunno who we go for. Walters, Peters, Slater, Young, someone else.

Let's take a deep breath

 Obviously not the result nor the game were hoping to see in Vegas.

We started crap, gathered it up, got back into the game, started the second half crap and couldn't come again.

Two key disappointments: 

(1) We were playing the Knights, who won the spoon last year. That doesn't bode well.

(2) You'd think given an underwhelming season 2025, you'd be trying to make a strong first up impression in 2026. We didn't.

On reflection I was though transported back to season 2022. In 2022 we had the 2021 Wooden Spooners first up in Canterbury. And lost in one of the truly ugly NRL games.

I guess my point is that the first game of the year isn't what defines your season. I'm not suggesting a crap loss in Round 1 is a good thing, rather that the season is far from over.

We also Drinky do a rib early in Vegas. He came back on having been needled up, but I've no doubt that impacted our performance on the day. 

I did see a lot of gnashing of teeth from Cowboys fans on socials, calling for Drinkwater to be sacked, moved to 7, Clifford to be sacked, Chester to be sacked, Dearden back to 6, etc etc. Take a deep breath people. The depth of our squad is fair at best (there are no blue chip first graders twiddling their thumbs), and we've just settled on these positions on the back of a long offseason and two rather handy preseason games. Let's not hit the panic button for a few rounds at least. 

A+ the Preseason Mark

Well the Cows had two prseason hitouts and they went about as good as they could have. 34-30 against the Bulldogs in Sydney followed by a 66-24 toweling of Penrith last night.

Now it must be said neither the Bulldogs or Panthers fielded anything close to a full strength outfit, but you can only beat the team you're playing. And our team vs the Bulldogs was far from our best 17.

It was an important couple of weeks for a couple of players: Luki & Clifford. Helium was coming back off an ACL, but looked strong and had real impact. Great signs for the year. Meanwhile Clifford got first bite at the five-eighth jersey and looked classy in both games. He'll start at 6. I'm happy to admit I've been critical of Clifford in the past. The key for Jake is maintaining that level. His best football has been great, but he's been to prone to fading into the shadows. Hopefully his standard remains high across 2026.

And I think Purdue to centre to at least start the season given Tom Chester and Viliami Valea haven't featured in the the trial games - the only two fit centres we have are Purdue & Laybutt (though I just also saw Laybutt picked up a judiciary charge last night - not ideal. Guessing Chester might come in for Vegas - aparently he's close to full fitness and had a strong pre-season at centre)

Mahoney looked good last nite against Penrith. Looks a good pickup. kicked well, tackled well, distributed well. Excellent start.

Mikaele looked great in both games - he'll be in Vegas. Even Lodge (who I was (and still am) hyper critical of us signing) looked strong. Given big Jase is a year older and Jordan has retired, we really need some of our fringe & bench props (like Neame & Mikaele) to go to a new level and become solid regulars. 

Sutton and King also looked like players who can play a signifcant role this season. 

The other good news: no significant injuries. Viva Las Vegas

 

5 Reasons....

 5 reasons 2026 will be a better season for the Cowboys.

(1) Helium Luki is back. Not just a big body, but explosive with it. Great at making yards, a threat at close range, super fast over short range (he's quite possibly the fastest forward in the comp). Missed the whole season in 2025, and we didn't have anyone who can really replicate what he does. A massive in.

(2) Our defence will be better. 2025 was a defensive horror show - we were the second worst defensive team in the comp. And for mine we clearly weren't singing off the same page defensively. Some would push up, some would slide, some would come in. It simply wasn't cohesive. I've zero doubt this will have been a real focus in the off season. You just can't be competitive conceding 28.5 points per game. The good thing is this isn't a complex fix, nor one that needs big changes in personel. Implement a system and make sure everyone understands it. 

(3) A good draw to start. We start with the Knights in Vegas, have the next week off, follow by the Tigers, Titans, Storm & Dragons. 4 of those look very winnable - we've got decent prospects of a strong start. And I think we need to find our feet early this season. Build a bit of confidence around the club, and relive the immediate pressure.   

(4) Tommy Dearden. Tommy started last year as a gritty up and comer, and finished the year as a player who'd quarterbacked Queensland to a SOO win and picked up the Wally Lewis Medal. I think the self belief & confidence that comes with that will flow into his play & leadership this season.

(5)  There's a great quote from English writer Samuel Johnson that nothing focuses the mind like the threat of hanging.  And I think that's true of Todd Payten this year. His coaching career hangs in the balance. He built an excellent coaching CV from 2015 through 2022 (assistant coach to the Cows 2015 premiership, parachuted successfully into the Warriors in 2020, then taking the Cowboys from the bottom of the table in 2020 to the 2022 prelim picking up the DallyM coach of the year in the process). But the last 3 years in the big chair have underwhemed (finishing 11th, 5th and 12th) and his crown has now slid to this point I doubt he'd get another head coaching gig in the NRL at this point of his career.

Upshot being this is the last chance saloon for Todd if he wants to continue coaching. He needs to take the Cowboys back to the winner circle.  We'll see the best of Todd.

 5 reasons 2026 won't be a better season for the Cowboys.

(1) Our recruitment & retension has been poor shit. We've seen some real quality walk out the door the last 2 years. In terms of regular first graders, since 2024 we've lost Finefuiaki, Robson, McLean, Val, Townsend (who was on good coin, even if you weren't a fan), Gilbert & the Hammer. Who have we brought in (and again, I'm talking established, regular first graders here) ? Bateman, Mahoney & Lodge (and I'm drawing a long bow with Lodge here). 

We've lost quality, and largely recruited from the discards pile. Not good.

(2) The squad is worse than last year. We've lost McLean, who was rock solid and robust, and the current NSW rake in Robson. Mahoney looks decent cover for Robson, but Lodge v McLean? Not even close. 

(3) We again look to be starting the season with an unsettled halves combo. 6-7 is probably the most critical combination for the flow of the side. And it was a revolving door last year between Dearden, Duffy, Clifford and Purdue, and no doubt that was part of our struggles.  Given Dearden won the Wally Lewis at 7 for QLD, I thought tht part of the puzzle was at least locked in, but no, he's been training at 6 apparently.

I like Dearden at 6, but it makes the 7 is all the more critical.

Now I personally think Clifford isn't a guy you should be building a squad around (too inconsistant in his involvement & impact for mine), but the other option is Purdue, who has bucketloads of potential but is unproven at NRL level in the halves. 

(4) Our three quarter line is full of inexperience. Vailea (49 games), Laybutt (22 games) , Derby (18 games), Paulo (66 games over 6 seasons), Burns (79 games over 9 seasons), Purdue (32 games). 

Taulagi is the only guy with 100+ games, and he looks like he's leaving in 2027 (which will no doubt impact on his football this season) - yet another retention fail.

(5) BigJase is 32 this year and we're so damn dependant on him. Even moreso given Griff won't be ready for the start of the year (shoulder) and McLean is gone.  Jase averages 154 running meters per game (no other forward in our side averages over 100 metres per game). He's been amazingly robust across his career, but he only managed 10 games in 2025. Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come.

Purdue to 7?

Deep into offseason, but the predicatable pics of preseason runs up Castle Hill have started to appear on Cowboys socials. Training for 2026 has begun.

Probably the big news coming out of the camp is Purdue training largely at halfback. And this comes straight from Payten on the Cowboys own website:

https://www.cowboys.com.au/news/2025/12/19/payten-hes-training-at-halfback-at-the-moment/

This has caused some angst among the rank and file Cowboys fans. The common thinking is that Dearden-Clifford needs to be our halves combo in 2026 and Purdue should stick to the centres.

Let's unpick what's happening here.

Purdue has come up through juniors paying in the spine - mainly fullback and halfback. He's made a good fist of the centres though. My *guess* (I have no inside knowledge of this)  though is he wants to go back to the spine. He probably sees himself as a spine player, and also in terms of your value & earnings as a player, being in the spine will absolutely drive up his salary & future worth. So I'm guessing he wants to play there. And he hasn't re-signed beyond 2026 to this point........

Now it's fair to say he didn't exactly light it up when he got a chance to play five-eighth earlier in the season. Purdue played in the halves v Manly in Round 11 (L), v Tigers in Round 13 (W), v Storm in Round 14 (L), v Dolphins in Round 15 (L), v Roosters Round 16 (L), v  Dolphins again in Round 20 (L), v Sharks Round 22 (L). 1 win from 7 (that's 14.2%). 

It is though also worth noting that Jason Taumulolo missed *all* of those games Purdue played in the halves. And is there's one player in our squad that's the secret sauce to our success, it's big Jase. The team won 60% of the matches he played (and the team only managed a winning record of  only 21% of the games when he didn't play).

In that light, perhaps Purdue's record doesn't look that bad. And look at who we lost to when he was in the halves - Storm, Roosters & Sharks all made the finals, and the Fins & Manly finish 9th and 10th. That was a tough run.

I also think we can't really have a sensible discussion around Purdue without discussing the alternatives.

Now TommyD is a lock for the halves. Doesn't bother me a great deal if it's a 6 or 7 on his jersey. So really it becomes a discussion around Jake Clifford.

Jake to me is a really frusrating, enigmatic player. Capable of moments of brilliance, but all to often underwhelming. 

Here's Jake as his best:

 A great kicker, a threat running the ball, and someone who can set up play for others.

The real problem is we usually see medocre Jake: Rarely runs it, kicks occasionally, often won't touch the ball in a set & sets up nothing

The stats bear that out. From season 2025:

Clifford was outside the top 50 for average linebreak involvments for (Dearden 9th @ 0.6/game, Drinky 29th @ 0.4/game)   

Clifford was 36th for average try assists (Drinky was 7th with 1/game, Dearden 29th with 0.6/game)

Clifford was outside the top 50 for for average line break assists (Drinky was 9th with 0.9, Tommy 14th with 0.8)

All pretty key metrics for a spine player I'd have thought

Now to be fair he is the best kicker for meters in the team (he averages 287m/game), but at 24th place it's a long way behind the 500m+ you get from Cleary & Moses.

(Note I've deliberately selected averages/game rather than totals)

Long story short, I simply don't think Clifford consistently contributes enough in a halves role. He'll continue to have flurries & moments, but given he's played near 100 NRL games spread across 8 seasons, it's hard to think the leopard will change his spots as this point. 

Bottom line is this. I don't think Jake is the kind of player who takes us deep into finals. Jaxson isn't yet, but could well become the player who could. And I think we need to give him the 7 jersey to keep him. It's a gamble given he's unproven at NRL level at 7, but Jake is tried and failed IMO. 

12th

 So after the final round of games played out, we finished 12th on the table. 

We actually had a 100% win record against the teams which finished below us. And an 11.7% win record against the teams above us.

There's zero doubt it was a disappointing season. Coming off 5th in Season '24, I think it's fair to say our hopes were high.

I do though come back to our off season: From Season '24 we lost a hell of a lot of talent to other clubs - Feldt, Holmes & Finefeuiaki (all were part of our best 17) - then we lost Luki for the year to injury (another from our top 17). And while we got Hess back from his knee injury in '24, the only other player we brought in that had a notable impact was Bateman.

We also got a very patchy season out of BigJase because of injury. He's a warhorse these days, but without doubt remains our most influential player. He finished with just 10 games under his belt in Season '25. Given we'd lost Finefuiaki & Luki, we desperately needed a big season out of Jase (and simply didn't get it). 

A lot of people point to Purdue moving into the halves (and dropping of Clifford) as the downfall of our season. That was the same time as when we lost BigJase - and I think that was that key to our drop off of form, not the dropping of Jake. 

As we look to 2026, I see the team as being even more dependant on BigJase. McLean has retired and he proved very solid and dependable in the middle. He was also robust - he played 19 games this year, and played 20+ games in each of the 4 seasons before that. We'd hope Lahrs blossoms into a quality prop, and Neame, Hess & Michaele all step up, but gee it feels like BigJase, even at age 32, is more key than ever.

Luki will hopefully come back strong, and will take some of the load as well. He's a bloody big body. 

I would though love to see the Cows sign another real metre eater of a prop. I don't love the fact that we're so damn dependent on BigJase to bend the line. Neame, Hess, McIntyre & Michaele - they're all very solid, but simply don't have the impact Jase has. 

I'm also worried about the guys who are able to negotiate come Nov 1 (as they don't have a contact beyond 2026) - specifically Purdue, Neame, Lahrs & Taulagi. Admitted there are lots of players at lots of clubs in the same boat, but with the Perth Bears entering the comp in 2027, and PNG following hot on their heels, I'm guessing retention will be bloody hard. The less quality players coming off contract the better.