MAL Meninga has questioned whether North Queensland have appointed the right person to lead the review into their disastrous NRL season.

Cowboys chairman Laurence Lancini has tasked football manager Peter Parr with the job of finding out why the club is battling it out for the wooden spoon when they were pre-season premiership favourites.

After losing last year’s grand final, North Queensland were tipped to send legendary halfback Johnathan Thurston off with a third title and second with the Cowboys.

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But the fairytale has turned into a nightmare as they sit just one win ahead of Parramatta and try to avoid finishing last for the first time since 2000.

The Cowboys walk from the field dejected. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

Queensland legend Meninga believes a review is needed but thinks the club would be better off with someone externally doing it.

“They feel they’ve got some issues behind the scenes; they may not, I’m not quite sure,” Meninga told Fox Sports’ Queenslanders Only.

“Is Peter Parr part of the solution or part of the problem? He’s leading the review.

“(It) depends who Peter gets around him to do the review.

“It’s a strange one for me because they’ve had a lot of success in recent times and this is the one year where they’ve struggled a bit on field.”

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Brisbane Broncos great Corey Parker feels the Cowboys need to make massive changes to turn around their fortunes.

“They haven’t just struggled, they’ve missed the mark altogether,” Parker told Fox Sports.

“They played in a grand final last year and could possibly pick up the spoon so it’s not a point of missing the mark, they’ve been diabolical.

“They’ve played the same style they’ve played over the last few years and it’s just not working anymore.”

Cowboys coach Paul Green has welcomed the review that will also see Parr assume the director of football role.

“(Lancini) is looking at where Parry can best make a difference to the club also. He’s been around the game for a long time,” Green said.

“If you take a bit of that operational stuff off him on a day-to-day (basis), he can focus a bit more on the strategic stuff and hopefully we’ll benefit from that.”