Why ‘walls are closing in’ on Payten as ‘ripple effect’ of brutal Cowboys captaincy call revealed
There are growing murmurs Todd Payten is feeling the heat amid the Cowboys’ horror stretch of five straight losses with claims “the walls are closing in” on the North Queensland coach.
The Cowboys made an impressive start to the season winning four of their opening five games before slumping to five straight defeats.
It sees Payten’s side languishing in 12th spot, three points outside the eight. The worrying form slump comes off the back of a disastrous 2023 campaign which saw the Cowboys crash out of the top eight.
Now, according to the Australian’s Brent Read, questions are being asked internally of the head coach.
“I think there are rumblings up there that the walls are closing in on Todd Payten a bit,” He said on NRL360 on Tuesday.
“There is some pressure on and so there should be. There has got to be.
“That is a top eight squad. If you go through that roster that is a top eight team at a minimum.
“So when you look at where they are now and the way they have played in the last five weeks it has just been way, way below expectations.”
The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio agreed and said Payten had managed to fly under the radar.
“They have (fallen off a cliff) and it must be hugely concerning and, it has to be said, if the Cowboys were a Sydney club Todd Payten would be under the blowtorch,” Riccio said on NRL360.
“They had a shocking end to their 2023 season. They lost four of their last five last year.”
Riccio said the 28-26 loss to the Cowboys in Round 9 sounded the alarm.
“The game that got me was the Dolphins loss. They got absolutely out-muscled and outworked by a Queensland Cup side,” he said.
“If there weren’t internal questions being asked at that time, the Cowboys management aren’t doing their job.”
Heading into the 2024 season Payten made the shock call to axe his captains Chad Townsend and Jason Taumalolo and replace them with Tom Dearden and Rueben Cotter.
NRL great James Graham questioned whether the move had had a detrimental impact on the team.
“Now that arguably is the correct decision with that young leadership, that’s how Todd justified his decision,” Graham said.
“But how well has that been received by Townsend and Taumalolo and the ripple on effect of maybe not managing that changing of the guard as well as possible.”
The NRL360 panel then pointed the finger at the Cowboys defence and how it could impact the selection of Queensland Origin stars.
“In terms of defence if we remember two seasons ago when the Cowboys had that great year, we remember talking about their scramble defence,” Riccio said.
“And how they used to fight for each other where there would be six or eight Cowboys in the frame on a last ditch play. We are seeing none of that.
“We spoke about how fit they were and how hard they were. We are seeing none of that at this point in time.
“That’s why I honestly believe there are questions being asked up there.
“Not only that, the ripple effect on the Queensland Origin side where I believe there would be discussions being had with several of those Queenslanders like Valentine Holmes, Murray Taulagi and Reuben Cotter (about their form).”
