Jaxon Purdue has again been named in the halves for North Queensland’s Thursday night Round 20 clash with the Dolphins, as Jake Clifford continues to manage a quad injury.
Highly touted even before his NRL debut in 2024, there seems little doubt the future is bright for 19-year-old Purdue.
Alas, the present is considerably less rosy for a talent-laden North Queensland side that has underachieved in 2025 with just six wins from 17 starts.
Trouble in Townsville
While three members of the Cowboys 2025 spine are generally settled, the second halves spot has caused major headaches for head coach Todd Payten who has struggled to find a stable replacement for veteran playmaker Chad Townsend who departed at the end of 2024.
MORE: ‘I’m losing sleep’: Payten slams Cowboys' game-killing errors
Despite giving plenty of opportunities to Jake Clifford, Thomas Duffy and Jaxon Purdue, none of the trio have been able to lock down a permanent position alongside 2025 State of Origin Man of the Series, Tom Dearden.
For his part, Purdue has still featured in all 17 Cowboys games this season—but despite showing tremendous promise in the centres, he has tasted victory just once from six starts at five-eighth with the lone result coming in the narrow Round 13 home win against the struggling Wests Tigers.
Perhaps just as significantly, only one of Purdue’s nine tries in 2025 has come when playing in the halves.
Purdue’s most recent playmaking outing came in the last weekend’s loss to the Bulldogs—a match when he was originally named at centre before shifting to five-eighth when Clifford was a late injury scratching.
‘He’s a freak of a player’
Despite his early struggles, Purdue’s teammate Tom Dearden—himself a player who experienced the pressure of expectation in his early career with the Brisbane Broncos—has spoken of his excitement at building a new halves partnership with the talented Mackay youngster.
“The combination with Jacko will certainly grow, and the more reps we get in at training and the more games we get together, the better the combination’s going to be,” Dearden told The Courier Mail earlier in the season.
“He’s a freak of a player and he’s got such great footy instincts.
“He hasn’t played in the halves for a couple of years, once he gets back to knowing what he can do, it’s very exciting for the future.”
Purdue has also caught the eye of another legend from northern Queensland, Maroons coach Billy Slater.
“He’s a real player right now, but he’s going to be an exceptional player in the future,” Slater said on The Billy Slater podcast.
“Hearing that his preferred position is in the halves, you can imagine with another couple of off-seasons under his belt, a little more footy knowledge and then moving into his preferred position, he’s going to be a wonderful player for a long period of time.”
Purdue won’t turn 20 until later this month, so time is very much on his side—but for his besieged coach Todd Payten it could be a very different story.
Purdue is currently contracted to the Cowboys until the end of the 2026 NRL season.
🔀McLean out, Mikaele to start. 🆕Paulo named on the wing. pic.twitter.com/TX3H3zTRM4
— NQ Cowboys (@nthqldcowboys) July 15, 2025