The North Queensland Cowboys have claimed victory for the first time in 2025, downing the Canberra Raiders by 10 points in trying conditions at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
It was a frantic start as the Cowboys twice caught the Raiders wanting down the left edge. But, both times the Canberra scramble was enough to shut them out and keep a clean sheet. The visitors got a better share of possession and capitalised on a series of penalties. Canberra opened the scoring in the eleventh minute when Joe Tapine charged through some pedestrian defence to charge across in his maiden game back from suspension.
Both sides were poorly disciplined in the first half and it was little wonder that a penalty led to the next scoring play. John Bateman was ruled to have escorted Hudson Young from chasing his own grubber kick, Jamal Fogarty added a gift two points to lead 8-0. That would be the end of the scoring for the first half for the home side.
The Cowboys looked most damaging when they went left in the first half and it was a cracking pass from Scott Drinkwater to Murray Taulagi who strolled over to get the Cowboys on the board for their earliest first half try in 2025 after 25 minutes. There are several judiciary concerns for the visitors with Josh Papali'i placed on report twice for high tackles while Tapine was pinned for a ‘chicken wing' style action.
The Raiders were struggling to get back into the contest and made mistakes which gave the Cowboys their first lead of 2025. Jake Clifford took matters into his own hands with a great individual try to level the scores. Off the next set, Clifford flew to catch a Tom Dearden bomb over the top of Kaeo Weekes to score a double in the space of two minutes to get the Cowboys up 16-8 at the break.
North Queensland opened proceedings in the second half as Clifford combined brilliantly with Bateman. On the ensuing play, a kick from Drinkwater was played at by Kaeo Weekes. A brilliant slips catch from Clifford saw him get the pass away to Robert Derby for his maiden NRL try after 47 minutes to lead by 14.
Four minutes later, Xavier Savage was cleared for take-off as he leapt highest for a Jamal Fogarty bomb to score and give Canberra some life with about 25 minutes to go. The game changed just before the hour mark when Coen Hess was sin-binned for repeated infringements after being the fourth infringement in a row. North Queensland had to repel several sets of attack but eventually cracked when Savelio Tamale crashed over from easy range to make it a four point game.
Canberra should've levelled the scores when Savage broke away, but the flying winner inexplicably didn't pass to rookie Owen Pattie and the Raiders would regret missing that opportunity.
North Queensland added a penalty goal when Corey Horsburgh was pinned for a second effort, he was also placed on report following an awkward tackle on Jason Taumalolo. Tom Dearden called game five minutes from time with a tough individual try. He had plenty of work to do to avoid the defence and make it all the way to the try-line. Fogarty added a penalty goal on full-time to make it a 10 point defeat for the visitors.
The Cowboys taste victory for the first time this season and seem to have something going in the right direction for the first time this season. Meanwhile for the visitors, a tough travel schedule over the opening month seems to have taken it's toll as they go back to a 2-2 record after a positive unbeaten start to the season.