The North Queensland Cowboys might have recovered from a dire Round 1 performance to pick up a win in Round 2, but there are still plenty of questions over the club.
Round 1 is notorious for upsets and results that don't make a world of sense, and while their performance against the Bulldogs was a performance was a punishment to the eyes, it hasn't been fully corrected by the victory over Canberra in Round 2.
The Cowboys have been earmarked as a wooden spoon favourite by many over the course of the off-season.
That may change in the eyes of some after their Round 2 effort, however, there are still some big decisions Todd Payten simply must make if this team are to continue on that form.
And the way it looks right now, one could also call them glaring errors.
Not for a second am I suggesting I know better than the former 260-gamer, although when it comes to the elephant in the room, perhaps I do?
The Cowboys hold one of the NRL's most potent weapons in Jason Taumalolo.
The Kiwi turn Samoan number 13 has been the game's premier lock since the retirement of Paul Gallen. There's an argument, and a good one too, that he took that throne a few years earlier.
The Cowboys know what they have. So much so that they extended one of the game's most ridiculous contracts, a ten-year deal, to retain their megastar.
On face value the deal was good. Locking in the best in the business for a decade was a move they had to make.
Rumoured to be at around a million dollars a season, given the way the cap continues to rise, it looked like a brilliant deal. Taumalolo is in theory a one-club player and this deal ensures he will remain as such.
With the game having moved into a faster overall product suddenly the wear on tear on 300 metre per game forwards playing big minutes has increased.
Todd Payton made a very public statement, always a terrible idea when dealing with the NRL public, that Taumalolo would play reduced minutes ensuring he could see out his monster deal.
Unfortunately by blunting Taumalolo the Cowboys have completely lost their identity as well as their number one weapon. Also any hope of playing finals football.
Payton has a point but Taumalolo has been reduced to just another forward. Something that he absolutely is not.
I'm not saying he needs to be turned into an 80-minute battering ram, however at his current rate he could be replaced by any number of QLD cup forwards.
In Round 1, he played 51 minutes and made 136 metres. In Round 2 it was 53 minutes for 161 metres.
$1 million dollars a season. 136 metres followed by 161 in 51 and 53 minutes. The numbers simply don't add up for a forward who averaged 205 metres per game in 2017, 179 in 2018, 196 in 2019 and 207 in 2020.
He averaged just 155 last year, and is off to a start at 148 this year, suggesting more of the same.
Taumalolo looks frustrated. Former teammates are on record as saying he should push for an exit.
I guarantee Wayne Bennett could find the money to make him a Dolphin. I double guarantee he would find value for that also.
Payten needs to make maximising Jason Taumalolo's impact his number one priority.
With all due respect to the rest of the Cowboys squad, without their main weapon firing, they're a long way from finals quality.
This brings me to issue number two; the Cowboys halves.
Scott Drinkwater, the Cowboys best in 2021 sat in the stands during the opening two rounds. Actually as the 18th man he may have been on the bench. He should have been on the field, for 80 minutes.
Dearden and Townsend were far better in Round 2, but a one-off performance doesn't erase the concerns of an entire off-season and frankly, career's playing style.
Chad Townsend and Tom Dearden are far too similar.
Townsend may have a premiership to his name while Dearden has been earmarked as a star for a while but the fact both were allowed to leave their clubs should tell you all you need to know.
Neither possesses the speed or running game of Drinkwater.
Both will give you 80-minute efforts and control the game but neither have the game-breaking potential of the criminally underrated Drinkwater.
What beggars belief is the fact that the Cowboys offered up big money to retain Drinkwater. This after signing the aforementioned halves.
Obviously, there was a plan. Or was there?
If Drinkwater was retained as an expensive utility option I am sure he would have been there during the opening two rounds. Instead Jake Granville was called into the squad late on to fill that role.
If I had access to two of the Cowboys players, Taumalolo is the undisputed number one with Drinkwater in the top few. I can't believe they have been reduced to a bit part forward and spectator on a combined 1.5 million dollars.
Payten needs to work out how to use Taumalolo and make the difficult yet seemingly obvious choice to drop one of his halves to shake things up, or someone else will.
