It’s just before 10 o’clock on a still cool Las Vegas morning, and already Todd Payten is asking his sweaty Cowboys players how the lungs are feeling? Then, if everyone is good?

“F*** yeah,” Reed Mahoney replies.

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And in the type of wonderfully upbeat, almost defiant tone now set to become Townsville’s heartbeat.

That, and ensure his ongoing reign as the NRL’s Greatest Pest.

Although just quietly, when you consider how that tag has also been thrust at the likes of Cody Walker, Cam Munster, Jarome Luai, even Liam Martin … well, it puts a fella in decent company, right?

“Ah, I guess so,” Mahoney grins, talking now from beneath a Cowboys visor, and after having completed yet another tough session towards Sunday’s NRL blockbuster at Allegiant Stadium.

“But for me, I just like to compete.

“Which sometimes, I know, comes across a certain way.

“Honestly though, there’s no malice.

“But I am passionate. And I want to win.

“It’s who I am.”

After a year in which he was controversially benched, dumped, and then — gasp — axed from the Canterbury Bulldogs, Mahoney now finds himself sitting among a host of the biggest NRL Las Vegas storylines also including, but not limited to, Bulldogs halfback Lachie Galvin, $13 million Knights signing Dylan Brown … even whatever Fletch & Hindy get up to this Friday night.

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North Queensland Cowboys Reed Mahoney Picture @nqcowboysSource: Supplied Source Known

Writing in a Fox Sports Australia column earlier this month, longtime NRL assistant Mick Crawley suggested that if the Cowboys are to lift up and out of the horrors experienced in 2025 — and overhaul a defence that teetered between muddled and MIA — it will be due, in large part, to Mahoney’s mouth.

Which is an intriguing concept given all the headlines that same yapper has instigated.

Just ask, say, Nicho Hynes.

Or Jack Hetherington.

Hell, even go yarn with Wests Tigers prop Alex Seyfarth, who was once binned after appearing to headbutt this master of verbal tongue fu.

Yet just as Mahoney, talks, so he tackles.

Works and competes.

Everywhere, too.

“Even when we’re having a few beers,” laughs Cowboys star halfback Tommy Dearden. “I’m not sure how much detail I can give, but once you get through a couple of beers with Reed, that fire starts coming out again.”

Cowboys young gun Jaxon Purdue agrees, adding: “Reedy competes everywhere. Trains to win. His mongrel and aggression is exactly what we need.”

All of which simply adds to the intrigue surrounding this unwanted Bulldog.

Speaking only last month about his fallout with Canterbury, Mahoney admitted to still being so unsure about his departure that he told the Sydney Morning Herald: “If you find out, tell me.”

Vegas team squads are in! | 05:33

Asked by Fox Sports Australia this week if that had simply been a throwaway line, or something more telling, the new Cowboys nine offers a wry smile.

“Ah mate,” he says of the Belmore departure, “there was a lot to all of that.

“Yes, there were question marks over it all.

“And I’m sure from the outside, it did look ugly.

“But now, I get to put all my energy into the Cowboys. Get to have a hand in this team and make us a contender this year.”

Asked what, if any, responsibility he also takes for the shock Canterbury departure, and Mahoney, without pause, talks of “definitely having a look at myself in the mirror”.

“And every day,” he continues, “I am trying to be the best version of myself, both on and off the field.

“From where I was [last year], sometimes that just wasn’t enough.

“But I’m at a club now where being the best version of myself every day … I’m just living to our values, competing, and being grateful.

“It’s nice to feel wanted again.

“What happened last year has happened, and it’s only going to make me a better person and a better player.”

Indeed, speaking after North Queensland’s strong trial win over Penrith, Fox Sports analyst Luke Keary noted, positively, how Mahoney now appears to be playing “with a chip in his shoulder”.

But as for Keary being right?

“Oh, I wouldn’t say I’ve got a chip on my shoulder,” continues Mahoney, who is not only looking to continue said trial form against Newcastle in the season opener, but begin his new life replacing departed NSW Origin No.9 Reece Robson.

“Last year definitely didn’t go the way I wanted.

“But I’ve taken motivation from that for myself — not anyone else.”

North Queensland Cowboys pool session in Las Vegas ahead of their NRL season opening game – Reed Mahoney NQ CowboysSource: Supplied Source Known

Writing recently in a 2026 Cowboys preview, Crawley suggested that if the Cowboys are to be successful this year “it’s because Reed Mahoney fixes the defensive communication … it’s his mouth that the Cowboys need”.

Crawley added that while Mahoney, even amid last year’s chaos, still made 949 tackles – or fifth most in the NRL – it will be his communication that tightens the middle third, provides line speed, and allows the Cowboys’ famed attack to again be weaponized.

“And communication in all aspects of the game is vital,” Mahoney agrees. “And at nine, yeah, I have to be talking a lot.

“When you look at this squad, we’ve got some strong, powerful middles.

“And when they get off the line aggressively, it’s intimidating.

“So if we can deliver that, and I can communicate and steer the boys around defensively, that will go a long way to building good habits and allow us to play that Cowboys style of footy.

“The coaching staff have come up with a really good defensive system.

“So it’s about us now going all in on that …”

North Queensland Cowboys training session in Las Vegas ahead of this weekends opening round of the NRL 2026 season – Reed Mahoney Picture NQ CowboysSource: Supplied Source Known

Ask Dearden, and he says Mahoney is absolutely the man to lead their overhauled defence.

“Because since arriving up here, he’s really challenged everyone to go to his level, compete the way he does,” the Queensland Origin star says. “He’s been very vocal in driving standards.

“Reedy knows what a good system is, and knows what hard work does out on that field.

“I can’t praise him enough for what he’s brought.

Same deal Cowboys footy manager Glenn Hall, who knows more than a little about winning given his own career, which included that 2008 NRL premiership win with Manly Sea Eagles.

“Reedy isn’t only a natural talker, he’s a connector,” Hall says, while watching Monday’s session from the sidelines of a field on the Las Vegas outskirts, and backdropped by mountains still dusted in snow. “He’s been terrific for our group.”

Been terrific in Las Vegas too.

Indeed, while only a few months into his new life as a Cowboy, this greatest of NRL pests has already orchestrated plenty of laughs this week as the team has moved through not only several training sessions, but Top Golf, a shooting range, the craps tables, even hot laps in a Ferrari.

Which has us asking exactly how many times Mahoney has visited this joint before?

“Nah, never,” he grins. “And that’s probably a good thing.”