North Queensland Cowboys coach Todd Payten has taken aim at his side's horrid Good Friday performance against the Brisbane Broncos, suggesting the club wouldn't have beaten the Temora Dragons.
The Cowboys were sloppy at best for much of their loss in appalling weather conditions to a red-hot Broncos side who began to show some of the flare which made them grand finalists last year, despite the fact they were missing Payne Haas and Brendan Piakura for the match against their Queensland rivals.
The Townsville-based side completed at just 56 per cent against the Broncos, making 17 errors in a performance the club would prefer to forget.
Coming after three straight wins to start the season, the loss has brought the Cowboys back to Earth, with Payten's disappointment obvious post-game.
“Come down to Brisbane, it's our biggest club game of the year and we just gave our opposition too many shots inside our own half,” Payten said during the post-match press conference.
“You can't, we wouldn't beat the Temora Dragons by doing that, giving a good attacking team too many shots and you're no chance to win.
“I thought we should have been down by more at halftime to be honest. The most disappointing part of the game, Tommy Dearden makes this awesome defensive play.
“One of the better ones I've seen in a long time, and we just had no spark or reaction off the back of that. So yeah, we are sitting here, a real reality check about some of our football.
“It was awesome, it was a match-turner... pulled him down in the corner and there was a chance for us to get back in the game, we just couldn't find it.”
Despite the praise for Dearden's effort, Payten said North Queensland's defence needs to improve.
“Our defence needs to improve, I wasn't completely happy with it over the first three rounds anyway, when you're forcing yourself to do too much of it, you're going to miss tackles,” Payten said.
“We're asking our boys to do too much in the middle, but there's teams that make errors and are able to defend it too.
“I thought we had a really good week... but conceding the try we did first through the ruck, it just deflates our energy.
“From there our back five made what, 14 errors throughout the game, they've been a real strength for us for the first three games.
“Two full days of training this week, plus a captain's run, and we've got some real work to do.”
The Cowboys will aim to return to the winner's circle back at home next weekend when they host the struggling Gold Coast Titans, with a tough period to follow as they take on the Parramatta Eels and Cronulla Sharks away, before hosting the Penrith Panthers in Round 8.
