The 2026 NRL season is set to kick-off on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, with 16 teams out to chase the Brisbane Broncos in the new campaign.
Every club will see key reasons why they can and can't perform in 2026, and Zero Tackle have pulled the key one on each side of the coin.
North Queensland Cowboys
Why they can: Elite attacking weapons
For a team with Tom Dearden and Scott Drinkwater (and Reece Robson last year), the Cowboys have grossly underperformed in recent times.
They looked closer to the wooden spoon than the top eight for much of 2025, and Todd Payten must be entering 2026 as one of the most under pressure coaches in the game.
If the Cowboys are going to turn it around, they'll need their key weapons - both of whom are representative calibre players - to fire.
Why they can't: Defensive struggles and inconsistency
The biggest issue for the Cowboys in their underperformance of recent seasons has been their defence and overall lack of consistency.
That's maybe not a surprise given their constant travel to and from Townsville, but it won't save Payten if the same trends repeat in 2026.
Unfortunately, a mostly ageing and well below par forward pack means it's difficult to see either of those issues flipping the script.
Objective: To say in one article what everyone else says, and to say what everyone else does _not_ say.
Who said that ? Was it Nietzsche ?
Well, whoever it was, he’d be proud to have written this one, Scott.