The North Queensland Cowboys' season has now come to an end after they were beaten by the Parramatta Eels in the Preliminary Final.
Check out our season review of the Cowboys who finished third in the home and away season before playing in two finals.
North Queensland Cowboys (36 points, 17-7, +272 differential)
Ladder: 3rd
Won Qualifying Final 32-30 v Sharks, Lost Preliminary Final 24-20 v Eels
The expectation for the Cowboys this season was that they would continue to be cellar dwellers and after a round 1 defeat to the Bulldogs, many punters wrote them off.
However, Todd Payten completely turned this club around off the back of gritty defence and quick ball movement that catapulted this side to a premiership contender.
Veterans such as Valentine Holmes, Jason Taumalolo and Chad Townsend resurrected their careers whilst Tom Dearden, Jeremiah Nanai and Scott Drinkwater announced themselves as some of the best players in the game.
Many will say that the Cowboys blew a perfect opportunity to qualify for the grand final but this team should be immensely proud of what they accomplished this year.
Highlight
You are spoilt for choice if you are trying to pick out a single highlight for the 2022 season but the Qualifying final win over the Cronulla Sharks was one of the best wins of the year for any team.
The game looked dead and buried in the final few minutes before the Cowboys roared back to life and Jason Taumalolo willed his way over the try line to level the scores as time expired.
After a gruelling 10 minutes of extra-time, it was Taumalolo once again who made a barnstorming run to set up a Valentine Holmes field goal from over 40 metres out. The Cowboys silenced the local Cronulla crowd to book the first preliminary final in Townsville.
Lowlight
It may be a bit of recency bias but the preliminary final loss will sting for years to come and was the only downside on what was a terrific year.
After leading 20-12 with 23 minutes remaining, the Cowboys allowed two soft tries to Reagan-Campbell-Gillard and Maika Sivo. This was uncharacteristic for a team that had built their brand on strong defence all season.
They had their chances to steal the lead back at various points in the game but simply couldn’t get over that final hurdle.
Best player
A lot of players had career-best years and you could genuinely pick a handful of players.
One of the most underrated players all season across the competition was Reuben Cotter. The 23-year-old had a breakout campaign in 2022 in which he scored his first two of his four-year career, made 703 tackles at 97.4% efficiency and averaged a staggering 124 running metres a game.
Cotter was rewarded with a Queensland Origin jersey and did not disappoint as he made 51 tackles and played all 80 minutes in Game I.
What do they need for 2023?
To find a way to win in Sydney.
There isn’t much this team needs to improve on. However, the Cowboys record in Sydney is the one question mark hanging over this team.
In the span of three weeks, the Cowboys dropped two games in Sydney against the Roosters and the Rabbitohs. Those two victories would have pushed the Cowboys to second on the ladder and a home qualifying final.
2022 Report Card: A-