North Queensland coach Todd Payten has offered a strange explanation for stripping gun forward Jason Taumalolo of the club captaincy.

And he’s conceded both Taumalolo and Chad Townsend were “surprised” when told they would no longer be co-captains, before the announcement of Tom Dearden and Reuben Cotter to the roles on Sunday.

“Looking at our group, a few guys right at the back end of their career and over the course of the next 12 months or next two seasons, they won’t be here for a number of reasons and we needed to make a shift in that regard so that we had enough time to give the support that Tommy and Reubs need to develop into the best captain they can be when all that experience is gone.”

Team halfback Townsend is off contract and 33 years old.

But Payten’s explanation doesn’t exactly stack up when considering Taumalolo has four years remaining on his contract in Townsville and is only 30.

The superstar Tongan lock won the Dally M Medal in 2016, a premiership with the Cowboys in 2015, and has been the club’s season medal winner six times in the past decade.

But his relationship with Payten has been a point of contention ever since the latter took the coaching reins in 2021. Payten controversially limited Taumalolo’s playing minutes and experimented with him in positions other than lock.

As a result Taumalolo’s on-field stats declined dramatically after Payten’s appointment. Now he’s also lost the captaincy.

“They were a little bit surprised, but they understood where I was coming from,” Payten told Triple M of Taumalolo and Townsend.

“Both those guys have shown great humility around the decision and they’re willing and want us to be successful.”

Dearden, meantime, has become the youngest full-time captain in Cowboys history in a sign of the club’s faith in the star playmaker.

At 22, Dearden will be younger than Johnathan Thurston when he took over the all-important job, with the five-eighth set to lead North Queensland alongside Cotter.