The North Queensland Cowboys have won three straight for the first time without Johnathan Thurston since before he joined the club, downing the South Sydney Rabbitohs 23-10 at Barlow Park this afternoon.
It was the Rabbitohs who started the stronger with Cody Walker bagging the first points of the afternoon with a try under the posts. South Sydney were up 6-0 after fifteen minutes but their joy was short-lived when Jason Taumalolo hit back for the 'away' side, Ethan Lowe's conversion levelling scores at 6-apiece.
From there, the Cowboys put the foot down, taking the lead at the 25th minute through Kyle Feldt who found room out wide to score, before a 34th minute barge-over from Coen Hess, his tenth try of the season, had the 2015 premiers up 16-6 going into halftime.
Jake Granville was next to cross for North Queensland, and strangely enough, the last tryscorer for the blue & grey. His 45th minute try went unanswered and without addition for the next 20 minutes, until late inclusion Braidon Burns scored the Rabbitohs' second of the evening.
The win was iced with a 78th minute drop goal to Lachlan Coote, but overshadowed by the loss of Antonio Winterstein to a calf injury.
The Townsville based side will sweat on that ahead of next Saturday's home game against a Shaun Johnson-less Warriors at 1300SMILES Stadium, while South Sydney have a short turnaround, facing Cronulla in the shire on Friday night.