\n
\n
\n
![\"Reed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/mahoney-_25.11.25-13.jpg\"\/)
\n
\n
\n Reed Mahoney at Cowboys training.
\n \u00a9North Queensland Cowboys Media
\n
\n <\/p>\n
Cowboys recruit Reed Mahoney admits he has \u201cbig shoes to fill\u201d at the club but vowed to bring his own style of play to North Queensland as they aim to get back to the finals.<\/p>\n
Mahoney was signed by the Cowboys to fill the hole left by the departure of NSW Origin representative Reece Robson to the Roosters, and the former Eels and Bulldogs hooker said he had made the move “to win”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Kawana Dolphins and Beerwah Bulldogs junior, Mahoney has been working hard to earn the respect of his new teammates but insisted he won’t change the way he plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cReece has been great for this club for a number of years now, and for someone like that to leave; there is big shoes to fill,\u201d Mahoney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not going to be here and become Reece Robson; I’m going to come here and be Reed Mahoney.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Reed Mahoney at Cowboys training.
\n \u00a9North Queensland Cowboys Media
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it’s working hard, connecting with people and getting the best out of everyone around me and you go from there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI play with passion, and I want to win every game, every minute on the field. So, if I can bring that, I can definitely help the team in that way.<\/p>\n
“I think a change is always nice as well. I came here to just earn my respect through my hard work and that’s what I’m planning on doing.<\/p>\n
“It’s just working hard for my for my mates and (to) let them know that I am here to make a difference and that I’m passionate and that I came up here to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n 599″, “>809”, “>959″]”
\n data-eqio-prefix=”video-post-screen”
\n ref=”root”
\n ><\/p>\n
\n
\n Up Next
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n \/
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Replay
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Play Next
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luck: We think this is a nicely balanced draw<\/p>\n
Describing himself as an 80-minute player, Mahoney said that while things did not finish the way he wanted at the Bulldogs, he knew he still had a lot to offer a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m an 80-minute player every week; I worked extremely hard in the off-season to get myself in peak fitness and there were some changes in the back end of the last year, but some of those were a bit out of my control and that was the coach’s decision,\u201d Mahoney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to run with it and it was about the team at the time \u2026 If I can take anything out of that, that motivates me for the years to come and I’m really looking forward to really pushing myself to stay at that level.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n ![\"Reed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/79672276_mahoneyr-_250921_gp_02823_2025921155116.jpg\"\/)
\n
\n
\n Reed Mahoney playing finals with the Bulldogs in 2025.
\n \u00a9Gregg Porteous \/ NRL Images
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Cowboys also didn\u2019t have the season they would have wanted in 2025, with a number of injury disruptions one of the reasons that contributed to their 12th place finish after many had predicated another finals run for the talent-laden team.<\/p>\n
Despite some high-profile departures and retirements, Mahoney said he saw a bright future for the club, which was another factor that attracted him to return to Queensland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe group of players that were here and the calibre and the type of coaches that were here,\u201d Mahoney said of his decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said to me straight away that there was plenty left in me to learn and grow and that’s what I was looking for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some great players here that I’m really excited to play with and some really good young guys coming through as well \u2026 that’s what got my attention to come up here \u2026<\/p>\n
\n 599″, “>809”, “>959″]”
\n data-eqio-prefix=”video-post-screen”
\n ref=”root”
\n ><\/p>\n
\n
\n Up Next
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n \/
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Replay
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Play Next
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
North Queensland Cowboys Top Tries of 2025<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people that they have on the field and the people that are coming through the system; all the young boys that they’ve got going.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a lot of improvement in us, and I see that we can get back to being like the Cowboys teams performing at the highest level \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s about us walking towards it and getting better every day and really striving to be the best team that we can be. I see so much improvement in the side.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cowboys will begin their 2026 season in Las Vegas against Newcastle Knights, with the Bulldogs hosting the Dragons in the other match at Allegiant Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Mahoney was keeping his focus on training hard in the pre-season, saying he was no guarantee to be on the plane for the season opener.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew we were going to Vegas and probably should think about who I’m versing, but we’ll get to that,” Mahoney said.<\/p>\n
“As I said, I’ve got to earn everything and work really hard to earn my spot in the team and the only way I’m going to be in Vegas is me working hard and earning my spot.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cowboys recruit Reed Mahoney admits he has \u201cbig shoes to fill\u201d at the club but vowed to bring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-169915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}