The Highlanders are basing themselves on the Gold Coast this week before they travel to Brisbane to take on the Reds on Saturday night.
It will be the last game in a season which promised much and has delivered little, with the team sitting in 13th place having collected just three wins.
This has led to talk of a disjointed side, lacking spirit and with key players wanting to leave.
But Cowan said such talk was wide of the mark, and the team was still enjoying each other's company.
"I don't read the papers so I'm not aware of any of that. But I would find it very, very hard to believe if any of that was true," Cowan said.
"There is a good vibe around the group. It is that time of the season where there is always going to be speculation.
"The knives will be out and everyone will be putting their 5c in. That is the way these things work."
"But the majority of us are bigger than that and want to play well for the team."
He said the players liked being in each other's company and were training hard this week.
"We're on the Gold Coast and the guys are really enjoying being here and sticking tight as a group."
Much had been made of how players could play well for their provinces, such as Southland and Hawkes Bay, yet fail to repeat that form for the Highlanders.
But Cowan said there was nothing in that.
The players were professional athletes and just had to get on with the job, even if they were away from their home base.
The Highlanders were off the pace last week in going down 31-3 to the Brumbies, but Cowan said the team still had a lot to play for this week.
"We slipped back into some bad habits - final passes weren't good and we gave the ball away.
"But you've got to give credit to the Brumbies. They slowed a lot of ball down and gave us a lot of static ball.
"We didn't help our case by some of the things we did but there were some positives to come out of it."
He said the Highlanders could not quite finish a couple of opportunities against the Brumbies, but were at least creating them and needed to do that against a Reds side which still had a lot to play for.
"We've been talking about the last four weeks being a bit of a mini-season and wanting to play well. We had started doing that but last weekend was a bit disappointing. It is a big help being on the Gold Coast, getting right away from things and being able to focus on the final game."
Cowan said the team was going through its usual training and, although the season had been disappointing, finishing with a win would be a good way to end.
The side has had some relief on the injury front with centre Kendrick Lynn and prop Jamie Mackintosh flying over to join the team and available for selection.
Lynn missed the game against the Brumbies because of a groin strain while Mackintosh is recovering from a turf toe injury suffered in late March.
