The North Queensland Cowboys are rolling their way through the 2025 season after a horror start, and captain Tom Dearden believes a balance has been found between youth and experience.
After starting the year with losses to the Manly Sea Eagles (42-12), the Cronulla Sharks (36-12), and the Brisbane Broncos (26-16), the Cowboys finally turned things around in Round 4 against the Canberra Raiders and haven't taken a step back since.
The 30 points to 20 win over the Raiders was followed by narrow 22-18 and 24-16 wins over the Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs, respectively, before their first bye of the season last weekend.
The refresh saw the Cowboys smash the Gold Coast Titans on Saturday afternoon, racking up 50 points in their most dominant performance of the year to date.
Seemingly under pressure for his job at one point, Todd Payten now appears safe, and with a mix of youth and experience guiding the team forward, Dearden said he is confident about where things are heading.
"The flow with our game at the moment is we are finding what works for us. I thought the senior players are playing really well for us, and that's giving the young boys a lot of the confidence to go out and do their job the best they can as well," Dearden said during the post-match press conference, where he was also praised for his leadership.
Coach Todd Payten took the time to praise a number of his younger players for the way they were playing, including Robert Derby and Jaxon Purdue.
"I thought he [Derby] was awesome. He carries the ball really strong. He has put together a good month of footy. He was down on confidence after the trial match we had up in Cairns," Payten said.
"He had to go back to Q Cup, bide his time. He had to work hard on his craft, but he has got something the kid. It's about him keeping his head down, keeping working, and he is going great.
"I thought he [Purdue] had to play pretty tough today. He copped a knock to the shoulder. He copped one pretty high another time. He is getting used to the physicality of the game. He has plenty of ability, and I've spoken glowingly of him in the past. I just need him to keep his head down. Same with the rest of the squad."
The Cowboys had to do things the hard way after falling behind 18 points to 6, but it was a one-way smash-up from there, with North Queensland running on 44 unanswered points with 8 tries in 45 minutes.
"I thought we put 60 minutes of good footy together. Started pretty well, came up with an error after our try and a couple of yardage penalties gifted a really good attacking team some good field position," Payten said.
"They got a lead, but we stayed calm and connected, and played some good footy after halftime.
"I thought the players were really good and engaged when I spoke to them, and really happy."
Captain Dearden said he was always confident his team could run over the top of the Titans.
"I thought the back end of the first half, we were just compounding our errors and giving them way too many opportunities. We had a lot of faith in the fact that if we can build pressure and get our game on, that we'd come over the top of them," Dearden said.
"It was probably a bit nervous going into halftime. Compounding those errors put us under the pump, but it was nice to see that the boys dug deep, and we built the pressure in the second half and got the rewards."
The fourth straight win leaves the Cowboys entrenched in the top eight with a four and three record, as well as a bye, ahead of next weekend's Magic Round clash with the New Zealand Warriors on Saturday evening.
