The Cowboys have come back from a 10-point half-time deficit to defeat the St George Illawarra Dragons 38 points to 26, a result which means the Saints are no longer a mathematical chance of featuring in this years finals series.
North Queensland got off to a hot start, with former Dragon Reece Robson torching his old side out of dummy half to get the scoring underway in the 8th minute.
The Dragons hit back relatively quickly however, and it was a very easy try to watch. Talatau Amone got the ball inside to Tyrell Sloan, who was in space and passed to Jayden Sullivan who was in support, but didn't have enough toe to get to the line. He did however get a kick in for Zac Lomax, who did extraordinarily well to win the race to the ball and score.
Both sides traded blows for the next 10 minutes or so until the Dragons were given a perfect opportunity courtesy of a Murray Taulagi dropped high ball. They took full advantage, with Jack Bird's offload being tapped on by Lomax to Ravalawa, who burrowed his way over to make it an 8 point deficit.
A Kyle Feldt try shortly after made the score 14-10 with about 7 minutes left in the half.
Right before the break it seemed as if the Cowboys would be going in with momentum, with Dearden breaking the line and offloading to Neame, who threw a miracle pass to Reece Robson. He was stopped short of the line due to a huge hit from Ravalawa which jolted the ball free.
In the remaining minute, the Dragons marched the length of the field and were able to capitalise after Talatau Amone put in a deft kick for Tyrell Sloan, who gathered it in and scored the try, making it a 10 point lead for the Dragons at the half.
On the other side of the break, the Cowboys played basically the perfect 10 minutes of Rugby League. First up in the 46th minute, Ben Hampton got things going with a length of the field intercept try.
Off the very next set, the Cowboys went the length again. Tom Dearden put Jeremiah Nanai through a huge hole and was there in support to finish off the try and just like that, the Cowboys had the lead.
They weren't finished there though, they did the exact same thing off the very next set. This time Heilum Luki was the rookie backrower breaking the line and Jake Granville was the one in support. He opted to go himself and was pulled up just short, but it didn't matter as they had the Dragons shot for numbers, with Luki diving over for an easy try on the next play.
That made it 3 consecutive sets the Cowboys had scored in, and just as it looked as if the Dragons would break the streak, Freddy Lussick gave away a penalty by going high.
The Cowboys, needless to say, scored a try off the ensuing set, with Tom Dearden putting in a pinpoint kick that was caught by Kyle Feldt, who reached out and planted the ball on the line.
From there, the Dragons looked pretty much dead in the water, but they were able to score a try from nothing in the 68th minute through Mikaele Ravalawa. That made the score 32-26 in favour of North Queensland.
It remained that way until the final minute, when the Dragons spread in frantically to the right in desperation to level the scores on the final play. A try was scored, but it was for the Cowboys. Murray Taulagi scooped up a loose ball and linked up with Tabuai-Fidow, who left the Dragons in his dust.
The result means the Cowboys snap a 10 game losing streak, while the Dragons worsen to 7 defeats in a row.