No-try ruling hurt us but we hurt ourselves more: Payten

Todd Payten was more disappointed with Kyle Feldt's lazy offside effort on his goal-line than a controversial no-try ruling that killed off the Cowboys' momentum in a 37-18 loss to the Broncos on Friday night.

Payten wasn't pleased with the knock-on call against Feldt in the 61st minute that proved a turning point but wasn't about to blame that decision for his side's seventh loss on the trot.

After scoring in the 58th minute to give the Cowboys a sniff, Feldt looked to have doubled up three minutes later when he won the race to a Scott Drinkwater grubber.

He and centre Connelly Lemuelu dived for the ball at the same time and Feldt looked to get it down the Bunker overturned the decision as Drinkwater was setting up for the conversion.

To make matters worse for Feldt he was deemed in front of the dropout at the other end of the field to gift the Broncos an easy two points.

"I think it hurt us," Payten said of the no-try ruling.

"I was sitting in the box dumbfounded when the call was made but we've just got to deal with it and move on.

"Sometimes I feel like we're looking for reasons to take them away. When you slow it down frame by frame that's what happens.

"The momentum was in our favour. In saying that we had a short dropout and gave away a penalty.

"I can live with the no-try but I can't live with the offside."

Having pushed the high-flying Melbourne Storm to the limit in round 19, Payten was at a loss to explain the lack of intensity this week against a Broncos side which sits below them on the ladder.

"The most disappointing part for me was coming off the back of six losses and coming into the Queensland derby," Payten said.

"We were beaten from start to finish. It was really disappointing. They were just running harder and made more tough decisions than us by a mile.

"I thought we were lucky to score a couple of tries. We had everything to play for and couldn't find enough reasons to make tough decisions."

Former Bronco Tom Dearden produced a mixed bag against his old side but Payten reiterated the 20-year-old was a long-term prospect at his new club.

"I've been pleased with him for the last couple of weeks," Payten said.

"He arrived quiet and that's understandable starting with new teammates but he's found his voice.

"We'll get the polish on him. We'll get the goods out of him."