It may still hurt to contemplate but Darius Boyd has already put his hand up for the 2017 Brisbane NRL club captaincy.
The fullback was reeling after the Broncos bowed out of this year's title run, falling 26-20 in extra-time in their semi-final to defending champions North Queensland in Townsville on Friday night.
Adding to the pain, the defeat drew the curtain on Brisbane skipper Corey Parker's glittering NRL career.
In the end, Parker notched 347 NRL games, finishing fourth on the all-time list.
Boyd dipped his hat to Parker in the wake of their shattering derby loss.
Indeed the Cowboys and Brisbane players formed a guard of honour for the veteran when he walked off the field in the wake of North Queensland booking a preliminary final clash with Cronulla.
"I didn't know they were going to do a guard of honour," Parker said.
"But there has been a huge amount of respect between the two teams."
Boyd admitted Parker would leave a void but did not back down when asked about his thoughts on taking over the Brisbane captaincy next year.
"Corey will be sorely missed, everyone at the club loved him," Boyd said.
"It's something I haven't thought about.
"But if I was given a chance I would like to give it a good go."
Boyd couldn't help but smile when reminded that the Queensland NRL derby threatened to be decided for the fourth straight match by a point.
The last three derby clashes had been determined by a solitary digit including North Queensland's 17-16 2015 grand final golden point triumph.
This time, scores were locked up 20-20 at regulation time in Townsville on Friday night, sending an NRL finals match into extra-time for the first time since 1998.
In the end, Johnathan Thurston laid on a sublime inside ball to set up Michael Morgan's match winning try in the 85th minute for the Cowboys.
"It's a bit funny I guess," Boyd said.
"Before the game everyone talks about how close our games get and then it gets to that point again.
"You have a bit of a laugh in the end.
"We knew it was going to be close. But we failed to do a job in the end."
Boyd felt for teammate Matt Gillett who was on report for tripping Thurston in the 78th minute, conceding a penalty that locked up the scores and sent the match into extra-time.
"I wouldn't call it an error. It was an instinctive thing," Boyd said of Gillett.
"It probably didn't look great.
"But there were five or six things that either side could call a determining factor.
"It was a long game but in the end things didn't go our way."
