NORTH Queensland fullback Scott Drinkwater has given his side of intense speculation he is leaving the Cowboys early.
With the Townsville side recently re-signing with Jaxson Purdue until 2030, the 28-year-old Drinkwater has reportedly been given permission to negotiate with other clubs.
He is being widely tipped to join St George Illawarra.
“Look, there is – I guess – a lot of rumours and stuff,” Drinkwater told ABC.
“But it came out on, I think, Wednesday or something and we were playing Friday so I tried to turn the phone off, focus on this game.
“It’s a big game, the teams are more important so I tried to get into that headspace but….
“Yeah, look, I’m going to have to address the rumours and see what’s going on but at the moment the focus was (the game).
“Get back to the family at the weekend and go from there.”
Drinkwater kicked a late field goal to tie up last Friday’s clash with Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, before forward Heilum Luki scored the clincher in the Premiership’s first-ever 35-31 result.
“When you back yourself and you’re confident, more often than not it comes off,” Drinkwater said of the one-pointer.
Penalised as a disruptor at one stage on Friday, he said: “I just kind of braced for collision – if I kept my head up it wouldn’t have been a penalty.”
Discussing Thursday’s game against Manly, Drinkwater said: “Once they get started that team, they’re hard to stop.
“It’s really important to get a good start. (Tom Trbojevic), they get a lot of momentum off him.”