The Newcastle Knights have turned on the style as they took an impressive 38-0 victory at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle.
The Cowboys defence looked to be in a different place from the get go and a loose ball off a last tackle kick found Dominic Young who was able to find the returning Kalyn Ponga who scored. Jake Clifford missed his first conversion of the night.
North Queensland would definitely take the award for disallowed try of the year when Hamiso Tabulai-Fidow almost pulled off one of the tries of the century when he was able to get on the outside of the Knights defence and kicked the ball back infield and despite being miles outside the field, he got back in only to be pushed into touch at the last moment denying the try.
That was the only bright light for the Cowboys who looked disinterested and a step behind the Knights all night and that was on show when Jacob Saifiti was able to crash over to extend the Newcastle lead following Jake Clifford's conversion.
Just after the 20-minute mark, Dominic Young was able to get over the line however, it was very quickly rejected by the bunker with an obvious double movement ruled. The Knights continued to dominate as the as Kurt Mann took an uncontested catch off a Mitchell Pearce kick before offloading to Connor Watson who got his first try of the night.
Kalyn Ponga's remarkable return from injury continued as he scored a second try after the Knights made easy metres through Dominic Young yet again before the potential Jamaican international found KP for his second. The Knights continued to attack in the first half but couldn't get over for anymore points and took a 22-0 lead into the break.
The lack of enthusiasm from the Cowboys was on show and despite some potential bright sparks early on, their play was lacklustre and predictable.
The Knights attack picked up from where it left off and they added to their lead just after the hour mark when Kalyn Ponga created something out of nothing when Ponga broke through some soft defence and found Dominic Young to score his first.
Not long afterwards, Dominic Young was able to cross again after some luck and good work from the Knights and Kalyn Ponga after Kurt Mann tapped the ball backwards off a kick before finding Kalyn Ponga who kicked across field to an unmarked Dominic Young who scored his second.
Just shy of the fulltime siren, the Knights added their final try of the night when Connor Watson scored under the posts after a short ball from Mitchell Pearce.
The Knights have the bye next weekend before heading to Melbourne to play the Storm whilst the Cowboys take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs before hosting the Roosters.