The North Queensland Cowboys are reportedly moving to sign Paul Wellens as an assistant coach for the 2026 NRL season.
Wellens had a long career at St Helens, playing 499 games, before taking over as coach in 2023.
Despite a strong start in charge of the club, St Helens have dropped off in 2025, and his contract was not renewed, with the Saints confirming that stance this week.
It’s unclear how open Wellens is to the move across the world, but Wide World of Sports’ The Mole is reporting the Cowboys will approach him and make an offer to join Payten’s staff.
Wellens is a veteran of 11 Tests for England and another 20 for Great Britain, and held a 63 per cent win percentage during his time at the Saints as coach, but has no experience in the Australian game.
Despite that, the move would be the latest in the Cowboys’ shake-up, where it has become abundantly clear Payten is under enormous pressure.
While there is no suggestion that Wellens could find himself taking over from Payten, the head coach, who has been backed by the board, will likely not have the entire 2026 season to turn things around after the Townsville-based outfit fell short of the finals this year despite having a squad that should have challenged further up the ladder.
Underperformance, unfortunately for Payten, has been part of his time in charge of the Cowboys, who have employed the head coach since the start of 2021.
He holds exactly a 50 per cent win rate, and while he took the club back to the finals in 2022 for the first time in four years, and then made the finals again in 2024, consistency from year to year through his run has been hard to find.
Payten is off-contract at the end of 2026.