The North Queensland Cowboys slumped to one of the most disappointing performances of the season, being demolished 38-6 by Kieran Foran's Manly side in front of a stunned home crowd.

Coming off four straight wins, the Cowboys were expected to continue their competitive style, but instead delivered what coach Todd Payten described as a “pretty flat performance.”

Despite finishing with similar possession and territory, North Queensland never recovered from a disastrous opening half.

Their completion rate sat at just 42 per cent (9 from 20 sets) in the first forty minutes, coughing up 11 errors before the break and 16 in total for the game.

Defence was just as shaky — the Cowboys missed 39 tackles and allowed Manly to pile on four tries in the first half alone, followed by back-to-back strikes in the second.

Payten didn't mince words post-match.

“I thought they were harder at the contest with more energy,” Payten said following the 38-6 loss.

“Pretty flat performance, I thought early on for me and then compounded that with 42 per cent completion in the first half. We made 16 errors through the whole game... we got what we deserved. Made 80 more tackles, so the score could have been bigger to be fair.”

While the Cowboys showed glimpses of fight after halftime, they only managed one try for the entire game and went scoreless in the second half.

Manly's sharp execution was the difference, converting five of six attempts off the boot of Jamal Fogarty and adding a penalty goal to finish with 38 points.

Payten pointed to fatigue and missed momentum swings but refused to hide behind excuses.

“We tried pretty hard in that second half. We made them kick from inside their own half four sets in a row, but in the end we had a couple of big momentum swings,” he said.

“Thomas Mikaele gets one disallowed, and they go down the other end… Braidon Burns should have scored in this corner, and they go down the next set too.”

“Look, we've had two six-day turns. Two travels. An emotional game last week. I thought we trained really well on Monday, and the boys were good in the sheds, but we just got punched in the face first.”

Forward Reuben Cotter also voiced his frustrations, admitting the team's errors left them with little chance to compete.

“We just couldn't give ourselves a chance. You can't give yourself a chance when you're dropping that much ball,” Cotter said.

“You put yourself under pressure, and that sort of zaps your energy. We showed that when we put a couple of sets together, we found points.”

“But with a 42 per cent completion rate in the first half, it catches up in the second half. I wouldn't say we were complacent. We just have to get on with the job and stay positive.

“We know our footy, we know what works. It's about biting down on the mouth guard this week, going back to training and looking forward to Friday.”

The loss reignites scrutiny around Payten's future, with his job security having already been a major talking point earlier in the year.

Earlier in the week on The Boardroom podcast, Chad Townsend and Ryan Hoffman suggested a top-four finish would be the benchmark for Payten to retain his position — a standard that now looks increasingly difficult after such a poor performance.

For a team that should be flying high on momentum at home, the Cowboys' latest performance was a reality check.