Since Todd Payten confirmed that Valentine Holmes was granted permission to test the open market, the representative centre's future remains clouded, with his club for next season unknown at this stage.
Coming off another State of Origin campaign for the QLD Maroons, Holmes will be out of contract at the end of the 2025 season.
However, reports have emerged that the Cowboys may be open to releasing him 12 months ahead of schedule, and he remains no guarantee of staying in Townsville.
A stalwart of the North Queensland side since arriving there in 2020, the 197-match Australian Kangaroos representative is slowly coming to the back end of his career and may be looking for a change of scenery.
Whilst linked with a potential move to the St George Illawarra Dragons, teammate Kyle Feldt has backed Holmes to remain at the Cowboys beyond this season.
"I think that's just the club obviously saying like you're more than welcome to test the waters and I know where Val's heart's at. We all know where Val's heart's at. It's with us," Feldt told Zero Tackle.
"I personally don't see him leaving, which is great. He's a North Queenslander boy, he's from Townsville.
"It'll be hard to see him go if he does go, but honestly at this stage, he's still got one or two more years left and I reckon he's gonna stick it out with us."
A potential move to the Dragons would see Holmes take the place of Zac Lomax, who will depart for the Parramatta Eels at the end of the season and provide the team with much-needed experience as they enter a rebuild under Shane Flanagan.
Holmes, who has a storied history with Flanagan from their time at Cronulla, including a premiership win in 2016, is seen as a versatile addition who could play either fullback or left centre, with Flanagan keen to keep the Maroons veteran in his preferred centre position.
“He'd be playing left centre for us... fullback if we need him to. He's pretty versatile,” Flanagan stated in the past.
“He's a super talent... He hasn't lost his talent. Some players run in and out of form, but he hasn't lost his talent."
While Holmes has yet to make an official decision on where his future may lie, the Cowboys are desperately trying to clinch a spot in the top four.
Equal on points with the Canterbury Bulldogs (5th), they have the worst for and against out of all of the teams in the top eight and will be looking to improve it over the last few matches.
Sitting in sixth place, they will host inner-state rivals Brisbane Broncos at home on Saturday afternoon before finishing off their season against the Canberra Raiders (home), Melbourne Storm (home) and Canterbury Bulldogs (away).
"We're coming into that point of the season now, so we need to obviously sort out our for and against," Feldt added.
"We're slowly building up the ladder, which is great for us, but come finals time and leading into the finals, scoring against is going to be a big deal for us."