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North Queensland coach Todd Payten has distanced the club from reports linking the Cowboys to former St George Illawarra half Gareth Widdop.

North Queensland coach Todd Payten says he was dumbfounded to read reports linking Gareth Widdop to the club after what he thought was a comment in passing from his manager.

The former St George Illawarra five-eighth was offered to the Cowboys as a replacement for Newcastle-bound Jake Clifford, with the two players sharing the same manager, Paul Sutton.

However Payten said the Cowboys never considered the offer to sign Widdop and distanced the club from the link.

"Jake and Gareth are managed by the same manager and once we were notified that Jake had signed with the Knights there was a throwaway line at the end of that conversation, around if Gareth wants to come home would you be interested?," Payten told Sky Sports Radio.

"That's all it was, nothing more than that.

"Our answer was we're happy with Jake for the next 12 months and hopefully we get him going.

"I was really dumbfounded how that made the press from that one sentence."

Widdop is on the hunt for a new NRL club after leaving the Dragons at the end of 2019 to finish his rugby league career in England.

However, he wants to return to Australia for family reasons and is yet to find a club with enough salary cap space to afford him - even on a cut-price deal.

Meanwhile, Payten said he is expecting more from fullback Valentine Holmes in 2021 after an injury-interrupted season.

But his early return to pre-season training is a sign he's willing to do what it takes to get back to his best.

Holmes and Coen Hess are not due back from holidays until after Christmas after being a part of Queensland's State of Origin squad but both have returned early to training.

Payten said he will give Holmes first chance to play fullback in 2021 in the trials, but he's no guarantee to keep the position.

"We've got a couple of options there at fullback," he said.

"He'll spend the pre-season there and whoever plays the best in the trials and at training will get the spot.

"It was a difficult year for him last year, he had a limited prep coming back from America and it was a bit stop-start for him.

"I expect him to be better for sure."

Jason Taumalolo has been named co-captain for 2021 alongside Michael Morgan.