{"id":942966,"date":"2026-10-27T17:16:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/942966\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T17:16:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:16:43","slug":"five-november-1-nrl-contract-targets-north-queensland-cowboys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/942966\/","title":{"rendered":"FIVE November 1 NRL contract targets: North Queensland Cowboys"},"content":{"rendered":"

The North Queensland Cowboys<\/a> are constantly under pressure, and even a finals qualification in 2026 isn’t about to change that.<\/p>\n

Todd Payten<\/a> has never been – to the outside world at least – comfortable in his chair at the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

That comes when the team is better than the actual results they have dished up almost consistently throughout his time in charge.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Cowboys enter 2027 needing a new direction, and they do get a chance for a refresh with Scott Drinkwater’s departure.<\/p>\n

The November 1 period and beyond will also be critical for North Queensland, with a host of players off-contract at the end of 2027 and the real potential for a bit of a continuing squad refresh.<\/p>\n

Here is the state of play for the Cowboys ahead of November 1.<\/p>\n

Current 2028 squad<\/p>\n

Braidon Burns<\/a>, Joe Chan<\/a>, Tom Chester<\/a>, Jake Clifford<\/a>, Reuben Cotter<\/a>, Tom Dearden<\/a>, Robert Derby<\/a>, Sione Katoa<\/a>, Heilum Luki<\/a>, Reed Mahoney<\/a>, Thomas Mikaele<\/a>, Griffin Neame<\/a>, Jaxon Purdue<\/a>, Jesse Ramien<\/a>, James Walsh<\/a><\/p>\n

Off-contract at the end of 2027<\/p>\n

Coen Hess<\/a>, Kaiden Lahrs<\/a>, Zac Laybutt<\/a>, Soni Luke<\/a>, Jeremiah Nanai<\/a>, Jason Taumalolo<\/a><\/p>\n

Current 2028 best 19<\/p>\n

1. Jaxon Purdue<\/a>
2. Braidon Burns<\/a>
3. Tom Chester<\/a>
4. Jesse Ramien<\/a>
5. Sione Katoa<\/a>
6. Jake Clifford<\/a>
7. Tom Dearden<\/a>
8. Reuben Cotter<\/a>
9. Reed Mahoney<\/a>
10. Griffin Neame<\/a>
11. Joe Chan<\/a>
12. Heilum Luki<\/a>
13. Thomas Mikaele<\/a><\/p>\n

Interchange
14. Robert Derby<\/a>
15. James Walsh<\/a>
16. No player signed.
17. No player signed.
18. No player signed.
19. No player signed.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys, as it stands, have 15 players locked up for 2028, although that number could climb with spots still left to fill for 2027, let alone the following season.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah Nanai<\/a> is the biggest ticket still off-contract, but all indications are that he will head to November 1, and could well leave Townsville.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, the club also have decisions to make on experienced campaigners Jason Taumalolo<\/a> and Coen Hess<\/a> in the forwards, while the rumour that Tom Dearden<\/a> wants to move to Sydney is seemingly never far away.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the jury is out at fullback and in the halves, and it’s clear depth is needed right across the squad.<\/p>\n

Here are five options the Cowboys should be targeting on the open market from November 1.<\/p>\n

Option 1: Victor Radley (Sydney Roosters)<\/p>\n

The Cowboys need a ball-playing lock. There is no doubt about that really.<\/p>\n

They have filtered through plenty of options in recent seasons, but Jason Taumalolo<\/a>, if he continues, is a prop, and Reuben Cotter<\/a> is more suited to the same.<\/p>\n

That leaves the 13 jersey up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Victor Radley<\/a>, who could yet re-sign with the Roosters, is off-contract and should have plenty of clubs interested.<\/p>\n

It’s not just what he can bring at lock either. He can run around on the edge, and brings some much-needed aggression that the Cowboys lack at times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The North Queensland Cowboys are constantly under pressure, and even a finals qualification in 2026 isn’t about to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-942966","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\/942966","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=942966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}