Maloney has signed a two-year deal to join North Queensland Cowboys as an assistant coach, taking charge of the side's attack.

The Kangaroos and NSW Blues representative finished his playing career, which included 247 NRL games, in France with Catalans Dragons and Elite One club Lezignan.

Despite rumours linking Maloney with a move to the Peter McDonald Premiership, he has officially hung up the boots.

Cowboys General Manager of Football Micheal Luck said they had targeted a young coach to help Todd Payten hone the attack and pass on wisdom to a developing spine.

"We are excited at the prospect of the new dimension James will add to our program," he said.

"With an experienced assistant in Justin Morgan coming on board this year, we made the decision to target a younger coach with recent experience on the field to focus on our attack.

"We met with Jimmy in Townsville last week and we were impressed with how he presented and the ideas he had to improve our team.

"He will be an excellent sounding board for our spine, in particular our young halves in Tom Dearden, Tom Duffy and Jake Clifford."

Cowboys finished a disappointing 11^th in the 2023 season after making it to a preliminary final in 2022.

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