Hunt heroics not enough in milestone match

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North Queensland Cowboys v St George Illawarra Dragons

Ben Hunt did all he could but - as has been the case for so long now - it was not enough as the North Queensland Cowboys stormed to a 42-22 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons on Saturday night.

Hunt had three try assists and just as many linebreak assists in the win as the 33-year-old did his best to inspire the Dragons to victory in his 300th game.

Instead, yet another loss leaves the Dragons with just two wins near the bottom of the ladder alongside the Tigers, while the Cowboys now sit just two points outside of the top eight.

Despite the eventual scoreline, it was actually the Dragons who started Saturday night's game the better of the two sides. 

Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater coughed up the ball early to give the visitors an immediate shot at their line and they capitalized, with Hunt starting his milestone match in style.

The halfback-turned-hooker schemed out of dummy-half and squared it up for a charging Jack de Belin who stormed over to score, with Jayden Sullivan adding the extras to make it 6-0.

That was just three minutes into the game and a penalty against Peta Hiku moments later allowed the Dragons to march up the field with a chance to add even more points.

There was some controversy though as Tom Dearden appeared to impede Tyrell Sloan as the Dragons fullback chased after a Talatau Amone kick.

The referee though allowed play to continue and the contentious decisions just kept coming as the Dragons fell apart to trail 24-6 at the break.

First, Jordan McLean sent Chad Townsend steaming through a hole before the halfback summed up the situation well to put in a kick for Kyle Feldt in the eighth minute.

That saw the scores levelled before a contentious call to sin bin Sullivan turned the game on its head, with the referee deeming the halfback had held down Feldt after a linebreak.

Of course, right call or not, the onus was on the Dragons to aim up in the face of adversity and unfortunately for Anthony Griffin his side completely wilted.

Jack Gosiewski was first to score as Drinkwater made up for his early error by beating a few defenders with his speed before popping a late offload for the second rower.

It was former Dragon Reece Robson who was next to get the Townsville faithful on its feet, bursting through a hole and passing to McLean, who then found Townsend backing up in support.

The Cowboys halfback was pulled up just short though, with the Dragons' defence shot to bits on the left but North Queensland went right and seemingly squandered the try-scoring opportunity.

But a brilliant one-on-one effort from Heilum Luki saw the Cowboys forward surge over in the corner, with Valentine Holmes missing his first conversion of the night to leave the score at 16-6 after 30 minutes.

It didn't take long for North Queensland to find the try-line again though as Drinkwater turned it back on an angle for Holmes, who then found Dearden backing up to stroll over and score.

A late Holmes two-point field goal iced what was a dominant first half for North Queensland, who took a 24-6 lead into the sheds.

The Cowboys quickly extended the buffer by another six points after Luki scored his second of the night in the 50th minute, this time beating a poor attempted tackle from Max Feagai.

The Dragons eventually hit back a few minutes later with Hunt involved again, on this occasion putting a kick through for Jayd'n Su'A who beat Drinkwater to it.

The visitors had a few chances to creep back into the contest but lacked execution and direction in attack, only really looking threatening when they punched it right through the middle.

Of course, an opposition error also helps as a Holmes mistake saw Mikaele Ravalawa race away and fend off Drinkwater to score and reduce the deficit to 30-16 with 10 minutes left.

But again, speaking of poor execution, a Jack Bird as the Dragons tried to shift it deep inside their own half saw the game well and truly put to bed as Feldt pounced and ran away to score North Queensland's sixth of the night. 

That saw the Cowboys' lead pushed out to 36-16, with Hunt adding one more try assist to his tally as he put Suli over for what appeared to be the final try of the night.

Another error though directly led to points as Suli coughed it up, with Dearden on the spot to score the final try of the night, leaving the score at 42-22.

Dragons forward Toby Couchman could be in trouble after being placed on report for a hip-drop tackle in the 36th minute but strangely was not sent to the sin bin.

The Dragons take on the Roosters on Friday next week while the Cowboys travel to face the Tigers the following day.