FULL TIME in Townsville and a bad night at the office for the Cowboys as the Dragons take a 24-10 lead
Cowboys have the ball deep in the Dragons zone.... guess what they make another error
Six more tackles for the Cowboys as they have a chance inside the last minute
Dragons try a play on the last but the ball ends up over the sideline
Gavin Cooper loses the ball in a hard tackle from Tariq Sims
Gareth Widdop looks to go for the touch line and instead his kick is like a tracer bullet into the first row of the grandstand
A good in behind from Jake Clifford and Feldt gets the ball in his hands but he loses it and it goes dead
Kyle Feldt with some great awareness to get his foot back into the ingoal and get a quick tap off the 20m restart
Adam Gee gives the Dragons a penalty as Matt Dufty ends up in a dangerous position and then marches the mark 10 for dissent.
An underwhelming review with no real impetuous from anybody especially with the decision not even bothering to come to the screen
So Jake Granville knocks on but we're off to the bunker as there is some confusion between Adam Gee and Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski over what the restart should be so Ziggy sends it to the bunker
The Cowboys go from side to side on the last and Jason Taumalolo puts a kick in but it's straight into the bread basket of Gareth Widdop
NO TRY is the ruling; An accidental offside lets the Dragons off the hook but they do have to defend another set after Ashley Klein in the bunker rules an escort
BUNKER: Adam Gee says NO TRY as Gavin Cooper claims a second; We have a definite penalty for the Cowboys but checking onside, grounding, something else and something else
ANOTHER error as the Cowboys get upfield off the back of a 20m restart
ANOTHER error from the Cowboys as they mount pressure and now they compound it with a penalty
Cowboys get another dropout after Paul Vaughn can't clean up the Kyle Feldt kick off
Gareth Widdop converts the try
We had to check everything from offside to knock on's but Jordan Pereira has his first NRL try
BUNKER: The Dragons are claiming a try but we're at the bunker and Ashley Klein is mumbling something from the bunker
Another set where the Cowboys get a chance to apply pressure but again an error sees the chance go begging.
A good kick from JT forces Matt Dufty to go dead and the Cowboys force a repeat set
Dragons put in two kicks that go straight into the legs of the Cowboys defenders which bounces back and finally it goes to Leeson Ah Mau whose grubber kick goes dead
Back to back penalties for the Dragons after Ben Hunt is taken high then the Cowboys slow the ruck down too much
Jake Clifford kicks deep but it takes a sharp bounce forward and runs too deep; Dragons get a 20m restart
Second half underway in Townsville; The Cowboys have the first use of the ball
HALF TIME in Townsville with the St George Illawarra Dragons leading 18-10 at the break; The talking points the sin bin of Jack De Belin and the decision of the Cowboys to go for two points when in good field position.
Gareth Widdop adds another conversion to his tally
Some slick backline movement from the Dragons again as Ben Hunt finds space through the middle and then a short ball onto Tariq Sims gets the big man over despite the best efforts of Te Maire Martin
First tackle off the drop out and Corey Jensen comes up with a mistake following a rib cruncher from Jack De Belin
Another drop out coming from the Dragons, The Cowboys forced a repeat set after a good kick from JT
Repeat set for the Cowboys after Jordan Pereira is tackled ingoal following a good kick from Jake Clifford
Gareth Widdop has no issues from right in front
BANG - Matt Dufty slices through with some great acceleration before being chopped down by Te Maire Martin who couldn't complete the tackle and Dufty gets up and goes again and scores under the posts
Ben Hunt finds touch 10m out to kill the clock and give his side a breather
The Dragons kick high and Justin O'Neill takes the ball on his own goalline without any pressure
Justin O'Neill gets half through the line but comes up with an error as pressure was again building on the Dragons
Johnathan Thurston's conversion again goes close to the upright but it's through the uprights and the Cowboys go out to the lead
The Cowboys expose the gaps in the undermanned defensive line and Gavin Cooper at dummy half looks one way but goes the other and scores an easy try
The Cowboys with some good play down the left exposes the 12 man Dragons but they do enough to save points.
Johnathan Thurston hits this penalty goal much better and gets it over
Jack de Belin is off to the sin bin as the Dragons give away their fifth consecutive penalty; Adam Gee did give the Dragons the warning on the last penalty.
JT misses the penalty goal as it hits the upright
Cowboys again going to take the 2 points after getting a penalty in close range
PENALTY COWBOYS: "You know what happens next" the words of Adam Gee to Gareth Widdop after the Dragons give away four penalties in a row.
Ben Hunt puts a big kick in and it goes way too deep; The Cowboys with a 20m restart
Dragons clean up the ball after the Cowboys string of passes goes astray
Johnathan Thurston puts the Cowboys on the board with a penalty goal to close the gap to 4
PENALTY COWBOYS: The ball comes free out of Asiata's grip but Adam Gee rules it had help coming out; Cowboys oddly taking the 2
Thurston kicks in behind the line and Ben Hunt smothers the ball and is trapped in goal
PENALTY COWBOYS: Second penalty in quick succession against the Dragons as Adam Gee rules that the Dragons defence was too slow in getting off the ruck
PENALTY COWBOYS: The Dragons defence is too eager and they race up out of the line and Adam Gee says they left too quickly.
BOOM - Tariq Sims puts a big hit on Justin O'Neill
Gareth Widdop converts the try
Sharp catch and pass from Widdop to Hunt and then from Hunt to Duftie who turns on the sharp footwork, beats JT and he sends it to Nightingale who scores
Tim Lafai gets over the line but is held up on the fifth tackle; A good kick on the last and the Dragons force a dropout
Adam Gee calls time on and we are underway in Townsville and straight away he finds a penalty against the Cowboys for being offside
Referees & scorers:
Referee: Adam Gee, Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski
Touch Judges: Alan Shortall, Rohan Best
Video Referee: Ashley Klein, Ben Galea
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS (10)
Tries: Gavin Cooper
Field Goals:
Conversions: Johnathan Thurston (1/1)
Penalty Goals: Johnathan Thurston (2/3)
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS (24)
Tries: Jason Nightingale, Matthew Dufty, Tariq Sims, Jordan Pereira
Field Goals:
Conversions: Gareth Widdop (4/4)
Penalty Goals: