North Queensland fullback Scott Drinkwater wishes Todd Payten would wear a heartbeat monitor.
Not because he's concerned for the Cowboys coach's health, but rather because he's amazed by Payten's level nature.
"He just keeps a baseline," Drinkwater told AAP ahead of Saturday's elimination final against Newcastle.
"And he doesn't go above or below his baseline. Every single day he stays on the same line.
"If there was a graph of his heartbeat, it wouldn't change too much."
Payten is the first to admit he hasn't always been this way. There are times earlier this year where that monitor would have been off the charts.
The Cowboys coach has long been known for wearing his heart on his sleeve.
One viewing of his heartfelt 2022 Dally M coach acceptance speech is evidence of the proud and emotional man he is.
But it was in the midst of North Queensland's worst month of 2024 that players told Payten he needed to keep things in check
Beaten 28-26 by the Dolphins in Townsville, Payten admitted publicly after the game he was "really angry and disappointed".
The Cowboys' season was in a freefall and the club at a crossroads.
"The captains come to me and said, 'you have to be careful of your energy around the group'," Payten said.
"I'm a bit of a thinker, and probably tightened up and went inside my head a bit.
"That was obvious to a few, maybe all of them. And they made me conscious of that. I've been working really hard to not do too much of that.
"I'm trying to take the emotion out of it as much as I can."
As far as players are concerned, he's succeeded, with a calming influence reflected in the Cowboys' second half of this season.
"Back then we did have a bit of a rough trot and as head coach he takes a lot of the brunt of the pressure," veteran winger Kyle Feldt said.
"He is a bit a bit emotional when it comes to that sort of stuff and he obviously listened to some of the senior boys.
"He took it on board, went away and fixed up some things.
"Ever since then it has been great. He has obviously kept his emotions in check and that has been better for the rest of the playing group."
Feldt said Payten's emotions had never been overly problematic, but players still believed it needed to be raised.
"He was never bad but there were some minor things he could get a bit over the top with," Feldt said.
"They were only minor things but as a playing group we know minor things can lead to major things.
"He realises that and has helped a lot of us other boys out with keeping our emotions in check."
The Cowboys have responded, winning six of their last seven games to enter the finals as the form team of the bottom four.
Payten is well aware the Cowboys are still some way from the finished product.
More than half of the players turning out in Saturday's elimination final are aged under 25 or under, and inconsistency plagued the first two thirds of this season.
They also hold the worst defensive record of any team in the finals, at times cancelling out their strike weapons in attack.
"The biggest challenge with the group in my eyes is they understand how good they are," Payten said.
"They trade on their talent a little too much.
"I'm trying to get them to understand they have to get the foundation right every week, and that is field position and possession.
"When we put ourselves under the most pressure it is when we are pushing the pass and turning possession over cheaply. That puts pressure on our defence.
"Then you have to be willing to pay the physical toll it takes to win games. That's been the message pretty consistently."
If anything, the Cowboys enter this finals series better placed than in 2022, when they shocked everyone to finish third and finish one game short of a grand final.
That came in Payten's first full year as an NRL coach, with several players also in one of their first full seasons of first grade.
Reuben Cotter, Tom Dearden, Jeremiah Nanai and Reece Robson have since become Origin regulars. The Cowboys team is more settled.
But crucially, now, it is time for North Queensland to keep things in check.
"They're capable," Payten said.
"Our biggest challenge is ourselves, every week. There have probably been two games this year where we've been out played.
"But the other games we've lost, we've got no one to blame but ourselves. We get a little bit bored of doing what works.
"We've got some ability. But making the right play at the right time within the context of the game is a bigger challenge for me."
