Todd Payten was defiant over Jaxson Purdue’s selection in the halves despite his side’s disappointing 24-6 loss to Manly and believes he will lose five players to Origin.
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Purdue was a shock selection at No.6, with Jake Clifford dropped and Tom Dearden moved to halfback, despite a strong month of footy for the Cowboys.
The young five-eighth finished with 48 run metres, a tackle bust, an offload, zero try or linebreak involvements, two errors, 19 tackles and five misses against the Sea Eagles.
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However, Payten was adamant he made the right call on Purdue at No.6 and Zac Laybutt at centre and he won’t be changing it.
“They’ll both be better for the run,” Payten said.
“Did I ever think it was going to be 10 out of 10 first week in? But I’m absolutely certain that this kid is the future of our club in the halves and Zac Laybutt has had 12 months off since an ACL and he’s only going to get better, so it’s not changing.”
Payten also revealed he expects to lose five players to Origin.
“Yeah I reckon we will have at least five,” Payten said.
Cowboys skipper Tom Dearden believes his combination with Purdue is a work in progress, but is excited for what the pair can do in the future.
“No, not really, I think my role’s pretty simple,” Dearden said of wearing the No.7.
“I’m just getting the team around the park. I think the combination with Jacko (Purdue) will certainly grow and I thought he was strong tonight and I think the more reps we get in at training and the more games we get together, the better the combination’s going to be, so it’s just about building on that.
“He’s a freak of a player and I think he’s got such great footy instincts and I think that’s what excites you about playing alongside a player like that.
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“And when he gets comfortable in that role, he hasn’t played in the halves in a couple of years, so once he gets back to knowing what he can do, it’s very exciting for the future.”
Payten was full of praise for Jeremiah Nanai despite the loss to Manly and thinks he is a certainty for Queensland.
“I think prior to tonight his last month was as strong and consistent as it’s been for us for a long time,” Payten said.
“I’d be picking him.”
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Payten also praised winger Robert Derby for putting a horror game last week behind him to finish with 168 run metres and a try against Manly.
“I thought he was really strong,” Payten said.
“I said in front of the team in there, it was a great bounce back. It shows some mental fortitude. He’s worked hard on his prep again. He does a lot of good stuff for us out of our own end.
“He carries the ball strong, gets multiple carries in, so how he played tonight was a good sign on his prep and mental resilience.”
Payten was disappointed his side tried to run before they could walk and didn’t build pressure against Manly.
“I thought we put together pretty controlled first 40 minutes, investing a lot of energy into our D,” Payten said.
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“Put a lot of pressure on the opposition, and when the opposition put it on us in that second half, maybe in the 10 to 20 minute mark.
“We were trying to land a knockout blow rather than just be patient and work harder rather than outsmart the opposition and it doesn’t work and we proved that tonight.”
However, Payten was not using the losses of Jason Taumalolo and Reuben Cotter as an excuse for the loss.
“They’re influential, but we have got to find ways when they’re not playing,” Payten said.
“And every team has to handle it and we are just going through it at the moment.”
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