Cowboys grind out win in Townsville

The North Queensland Cowboys have defeated the Cronulla Sharks 22-4 in front of 14434 people at 1300smiles Stadium tonight.

After a long stand off, a late try to Kane Linnett would seal the victory with Jonathan Thurston kicking his 500^th career goal off the same try.

The Cowboys started fast scoring the opening try through Kane Linnett who received the spoils from a James Tamou offload.

The Sharks hit back in the 24^th minute with an easy try to Luke Lewis after Todd Carney delivered the final pass close to the line. The conversion was unsuccessful from Todd Carney.

The Sharks never really looked threating throughout the match with a  stale attack that was not executed throughout the majority of the match.

After the break, the Cowboys found points through Gavin Cooper who screamed through a yawning gap to score a try in the 47^th minute putting the Cowboys in front.

After a defensive tussle, the Cowboys scored two more tries through Antonio Winterstein and Kane Linnett as they ran out easy winners in the end.

The win was not all good for the Cowboys though, Ashton Sims was placed on report for an elbow which drew blood from Nathan Stapleton.