{"id":833632,"date":"2026-07-30T14:56:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833632\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:56:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:56:32","slug":"nrl-2026-north-queensland-cowboys-coach-todd-payten-press-conference-video-replay-reaction-to-loss-to-sydney-roosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833632\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: North Queensland Cowboys coach Todd Payten press conference, video, replay, reaction to loss to Sydney Roosters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cowboys coach Todd Payten has described the record loss to the Roosters as the club\u2019s \u201cdarkest day\u201d while captain Reuben Cotter said it was as the \u201cmost embarrassing game\u201d he\u2019d ever been a part of.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys were awful as the Roosters strolled in for 14 tries to score 82 points<\/a>, which was the third most of all-time, and just nine points behind the record set by St George in 1935.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sam Walker ran riot and his 36 points was the equal fourth most ever by a player in a premiership match. <\/p>\n

It was Roosters\u2019 sixth win in a row and North Queensland\u2019s biggest losing margin, and the most points conceded in club history.<\/p>\n

After the match, a stunned Payten offered an apology to fans as he summed up how he felt. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s absolutely unacceptable. And as a coach for this club, it\u2019s one of our darkest days, if not the darkest day, and I\u2019d like to apologise to our members and fans that turned up here today and those that watched it at home,\u201d Payten said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe game was out of reach after 20 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Payten revealed that he had concerns about how the team was shaping up before the match started.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of things worried me in the warm-up. I watched us and then thought they just moved faster and tackled a little bit harder in the warm-up,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

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The Roosters were already making history by halftime when posting 48 points \u2013 the equal most in an opening half of football in NRL history.<\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t quite break the all-time points record of 91, but it didn\u2019t matter and the Cowboys could now drop out of the top eight if the Bulldogs beat the Storm tomorrow night. <\/p>\n

Cowboys skipper Cotter finished the match with just two runs as the Roosters had 65 per cent of possession.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most embarrassing game we\u2019ve ever been a part of, I reckon. We just didn\u2019t turn up, physically, and we were loose all across the park,\u201d Cotter said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to hurt for a bit. But we\u2019ve got the weekend to think about it but (we need to) stick together and try and move on to next week because we\u2019re on again down at the Gold Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Cowboys were coming off a big derby win over the Broncos just five days earlier, but Payten wasn\u2019t blaming the short turnaround after an emotion-charge victory over their bitter rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot making excuses, not making excuses at all. That\u2019s between the ears, that\u2019s where it is,\u201d Payten said.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys coach said he wouldn\u2019t even bother doing video on the game and would back the current group to get themselves into form ahead of the finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we review that. We certainly discuss it, but the message is we\u2019re in on Monday, ready to work,\u201d Payten said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a way to get it back up week after week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not making changes, that\u2019s our best team. What happened tonight\u2019s not acceptable, but they get a chance to bite down on the mouth guard and go next Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only problem on the night for the Roosters was an ankle injury to James Tedesco, who didn\u2019t play a part in the second half. <\/p>\n

He rolled his ankle in the first five minutes but was only taken off as a precaution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cowboys coach Todd Payten has described the record loss to the Roosters as the club\u2019s \u201cdarkest day\u201d while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-833632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}