{"id":443906,"date":"2025-03-17T18:28:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T19:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=443906"},"modified":"2025-03-17T22:13:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T22:13:26","slug":"slater-torches-awful-cowboys-as-crucial-issue-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=443906","title":{"rendered":"Slater torches 'awful' Cowboys as crucial issue revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

N\ufefforth Queensland<\/a> have started the season perhaps worse than any other NRL team and according to Billy Slater<\/a>, there is "plenty of work to do" if things are to turn around.<\/p>\n

In round one, the Cowboys were blown off the park in the first half by the Sea Eagles and fell 42-12 on the road in an extremely disappointing display.<\/p>\n

As a result, head coach Todd Payten<\/a> axed one of his best players in Jeremiah Nanai<\/a>, pointing out some of his defensive deficiencies as a reason for the selection bombshell.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Coach whacked with fine, suspension over Vegas incident<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Huge night at AFL tribunal looms as three bans challenged<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> McIlroy clinches $7m victory in bizarre fifth-day playoff\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cowboys<\/p>\n

The big statement at the selection table made little difference on Saturday night as the Cowboys gave up six tries against premiership contenders Cronulla, going down 36-12 on their home turf.<\/p>\n

It puts the side on the back-foot early in their campaign and Slater isn't sure how they will bounce back as the "concern" surrounding Payten's men continues to grow.<\/p>\n

"There's some problems up there in Townsville," he said on Nine's The<\/em> Billy Slater Podcast<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I'm not sure exactly what they are, but 78 points scored against the Cowboys in the opening two rounds is a concern for Todd Payten and his coaching staff."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

North Queensland had a few changes to their roster in the off-season, with the likes of Valentine Holmes and Kyle Feldt moving on, while star forward Jason Taumalolo is yet to feature in the top grade as he recovers from an off-season foot injury. \u00a0<\/p>\n

However, according to Slater, the middle of the field is the least of Payten's issues.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"With change comes a development time and a continuity time," he said.<\/p>\n

"Five of their eight edge players are new \u2026 they are all positions that rely on each other and an understanding of what they are going to do defensively.<\/p>\n

"All seven of Cronulla's tries came down the edges, they didn't go through the middle.<\/p>\n

"The key to defending on the edge is doing the same thing. If one person jams, then everyone jams. If one person slides, everyone slides. It's when you are doing different things that you create space and opportunity for the opposition.<\/p>\n

"The edge defence needs to be looked at and everyone has different styles and tactics. I think that's where I would start, with the edge defence."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The edge defence that Slater is referring to allowed players like Kayal Iro and Sam Stonestreet to cause havoc in round two, with both Sharks stars bagging a double.<\/p>\n

On top of their dismal efforts without the ball, North Queensland have also managed just four tries in their first fortnight of footy, despite boasting a stack of talent.<\/p>\n

"Their attack looked awful as well," Slater said.<\/p>\n

"There looked like a lack of cohesion and understanding of what's happening and they looked a little bit too flat – nobody seemed to be running onto the ball.<\/p>\n

"There's a bit of work to do with the Cowboys."\u00a0<\/p>\n

The struggling Cowboys will take on the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in Nine's Friday night game in round three. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

N\ufefforth Queensland have started the season perhaps worse than any other NRL team and according to Billy Slater, there is "plenty of work to do" […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":298577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=443906"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443910,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443906\/revisions\/443910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/298577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=443906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=443906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=443906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}