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Cowboys coach Todd Payten was unimpressed with his side’s efforts against the Tigers, describing the match as the “worst performance” he’s coached the team to.
The drubbing saw the Cowboys concede the most points in the club’s history as the Tigers ran out with a comfortable 66-18 win at Leichhardt Oval.
North Queensland missed a staggering 56 tackles and completed at only 72 per cent compared to the Tigers’ 91 per cent on Saturday night.
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Speaking post-match, Payten delivered a downcast assessment of his team’s performance.
“Very disappointing, very tough to watch,” he told the media.
“Probably the worst performance we’ve had as a team since I have been at the club.
“Everything to play for and we were beaten at all parts of the game and in all parts of the field.”
Asked if the loss erased North Queensland’s finals hopes not even halfway into the season, Payten failed to rule out his men.
“It’s going to dent our confidence, but it is not a line through our season, no,” he said.
“What we have do to is we have to turn around again, we have to turn around fast.
“We just sat on our heels, we didn’t tackle or move or run hard enough and that’s the disappointing part.”
The Cowboys came into the clash with assuring wins over the Roosters and Dragons, but everything unravelled as the Tigers piled on the points.
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Cowboys skipper Chad Townsend also expressed his disappointment with the performance, admitting he did not expect the blowout margin.
“It was a tough night from the opening whistle, they ran harder than us and they tackled harder than us and it is a simple game sometimes and they dominated from the very start,” he said.
“Collectively we just weren’t on tonight which is disappointing because I didn’t see that coming.
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“[After] the last two weeks, I thought we’d played some of our best footy of the season and heading into this week full of confidence.
“It’s tough to take but we just have to keep going.
“First and foremost you cop it on the chin, you have to be accountable for your performances as a team and as an individual.
“We have to keep turning up and that’s what we will do, keep turning up.”
The Cowboys will next travel to Parramatta to face the Eels on Friday night.
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