The 2026 North Queensland Cowboys face an identity crisis after a dismal 2025 season, with poor defense statistics and pressure on star players to improve.
The 2026 North Queensland Cowboys are a team standing on a razor's edge. Forget the excuses; the cold, hard numbers tell a story of a club that has fundamentally lost its identity.
In 2025, the Cowboys conceded 684 points. To put that in perspective, they had the second-worst defence in the NRL, trailing only the Titans. They leaked more points than the wooden-spoon winning Knights. For a coach like Todd Payten, whose 2022 Dally M success was built on grit, that is a tormenting result.
Note: Mick Crawley is a former attack coach for the Canberra Raiders.