North Queensland Cowboys coach makes STUNNING confession after his side was bundled out of the NRL finals by rampant Cronulla Sharks

North Queensland coach Todd Payten has bluntly declared his team must evolve collectively or they will remain a 'middle of the road' NRL side.

It followed a 26-18 defeat at the hands of Cronulla on Friday night at Allianz Stadium which ended the Cowboys' season.

Sharks five-eighth Braydon Trindall was the difference, finishing with two tries as his team finally ended their finals losing hoodoo.

They will next play in their first preliminary final since 2018 when they square off against Penrith.

Payten's men showed some resilience after trailing 24-0 at halftime, but in the end came up short.

'That's where we've got to evolve....I was talking to Reubes (Cotter) and he was saying the same things....otherwise we are a middle of the road team,' he said.

'We show some flashiness but we've got to bite down on the mouthguard a little harder in the tough parts of the game for longer periods.

'We've got some ability, but you can't pick and choose when you're doing the hard stuff of the game.'

Cotter agreed with Payten's scathing assessment in the press conference.

'As Todd said, you can't give away starts like that, not in the big games, so we have plenty to work on,' he said.

Payten is losing some of his most experienced players over the off-season, with Kyle Feldt moving to the Super League, Valentine Holmes bound for St George Illawarra and Chad Townsend set to join the Roosters.

Payten also refused to use the Cowboys' travel itinerary dramas earlier this week as a reason for his side's below-par start against the Sharks.

With the assistance of the NRL, the Cowboys were forced to order a charter plane to Sydney after a shortage of commercial flights leaving Townsville.

'It's not an excuse,' Payten said. 'Mentally we were ready to go, we just put ourselves under too much pressure in the first half.'