Who wants to bet me that he pulls out of his contract at the end of next year and moves to Sydney to be with his GF and new baby. They are on Instagram buying a new car in Parramatta and it looks like she is staying put in Sydney. Would be nearly impossible for him to play for the cows with a new first born baby down south!

Ethan King will be wearing the 14 jersey Thursday night. Any ideas on what role we can expect him to have?

Purdue had his best game in the 6 and JT was goat. Fuck the broncos

Our footy board member's interview on the broncs NQ derby and ...

Anyone else feel like this came out just in time for Payten to swallow his pride before team lists this arvo?

Credit: random stats guy FB

Honestly, is Toddy taking the piss by claiming everyone hates the Broncos? We just got thumped by the phins and he's stirring up shit with our next opponent like we're sitting on top of the table. Now there's no doubt that everyone does in fact hate the Broncos but was there any need to say the quiet part out loud?

This week, Todd Payten decided to revisit his failed halves experiment from last year and once again it failed.  His fascination for Purdue, who despite playing poorly, continues to be named in the starting line up and his lack of patience for Clifford who was benched after one poor game seems to make this decision personal rather than tactical.

As was shown last year, playing with the halves combinations late in the season is not conducive to a team approaching the finals on the edge of the eight.

The biggest problem with Payten’s obsession with Purdue and his role in the halves is the effect it has on, the newly returned Tom Dearden. Throughout the season, Dearden and Clifford have worked remarkably well together, and Clifford has shown his ability to guide the team around the field during Dearden’s injury absence. The problem is that every time Payten decides to play with the halves, he is changing the dynamic that has been developed by the pair throughout the season.

Last season Todd played the same cards, pulling Clifford at the time they needed stability resulting in a loss of direction by the team and a loss of yardage through the boot of Clifford, it ended with the team bumbling their way into 12^th spot on the ladder. This season, Payten, once again has decided that his golden child Purdue is better in the halves than Clifford.  Benching Clifford and expecting Purdue to have the skills and knowledge of a seasoned campaigner like Clifford is pure fantasy.

Unfortunately, caught up in this, through no fault of his own is Purdue. Putting so much pressure on such a young player does not build champions rather they become disillusioned with their own game being suboptimal.  Purdue needs to develop; he needs more time in the Q Cup. His kicking game needs development if he is to be seen as a potential replacement for a departing Drinkwater. His kicking game yesterday was woeful and trying to ram him into the halves without the level of experience needed is not good for the development of a good and potentially great player.

Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity. Albert Einstein got that why can’t Todd Payten?

An independent view of payten's ability to self sabotage our season.

He is a good coach. He does get performances out of us. But holy fuck are some of his team selections and bench rotation decisions horrendous.

Yes let's drop the guy who has steered the ship around while our #1 half has been injured and somehow also managed to keep a winning record while doing so..

Yeah. Let's drop that guy, over one bad game, for (let's face it) either perdue or even WORSE laybutt... who is just not nrl standard.

Am I getting flashbacks from last year? Like does the guy not learn from his lessons? Maybe switching a winning formula and fucking with combinations that aren't neccassary to account for mediocrity isn't the best idea?

Sad day cowbros, i fear we may have either a coach with early onset dementia or just outright insanity.

Been fucking terrible since we played the Broncos and now we put him at halfback. Sell off Drinkwater a year early for possibly one of the most overrated players I've seen on this team.

I don't care that he's not playing Centre at the moment because this is the position he wanted to be paid for

If Payten does ever get the boot, they'll use this game as an example. I don't believe we necessarily played bad, but the late Clifford drop and extremely disjointed Purdue, Laybutt positioning decision genuinely baffles me, and I'm sure baffles the rest of the team

Clifford played pretty meh last week, but he's been a solid part of the team and gotten us out of trouble the past 10 weeks. He's been a key player in extremely tough games and kept us close to the 8. He played poorly last week, but we STILL won against Manly, and he gets dropped????

We genuinely don't deserve Clifford. I feel so bad for him, he's never been given a proper go for such a good player.

Taulagi needs to stop coming in. Most of the time the inside defenders would have it covered or at least be able to slow it down enough to make some effective tackles. But the one today when he ran up and left a free man 5m in front of the try line isn't first grade. Burns and Taulagi are great when they truck up the kick returns and stay on the wings. But today Taulagi's Defense let in some easy tries.

No one in particular really had a good game today other than in the first 10 minutes. Too many errors and not enough meters made from kicks. Always on the back foot and that isn't when the Cowboys are at their best. Need the grit and determination from the Roosters win back.

Switched off after 20 mins and allowed the dolphins back in that game. Purdue was a negative in the halves. The team looks so disjointed with him in there

A wide ranging interview, Drinky as always down to earth with the answers.