Cowboys finish emphatically to lap Dragons

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St George Illawarra Dragons v North Queensland Cowboys

A rampaging comeback from the North Queensland Cowboys has propelled them to the top of the ladder with a 46-24 verdict over St George Illawarra at Kogarah.

The game began frantically with both sides starting in the set for set grind. However, four minutes in. The Dragons conceded a penalty and they were pushed down the other end by the Cowboys forward pack who worked the ball down the right. It took a magical pass by Scott Drinkwater which found Murray Taulagi on the chest and he crossed in the corner. Val Holmes' conversion was waved away and it was an early lead.

St George quickly imposed themselves crossing for three quick tries in the space of eight minutes to go out to a surprise 18-4 lead. First, in the ninth minute, the ball was worked well over to the right edge and Zac Lomax quickly took the footy and ran it around underneath the posts to get the lead. Four minutes later, Benny Hunt drew in some poor Cowboys defence (Holmes in particular) and broke through before finding Tyrell Sloan as he raced away to score. Five minutes after that, Kyle Flanagan beat some defenders that should know better in Reuben Cotter and Jason Taumalolo to cross for their third of the opening quarter hour and it was a three possession lead.

It should've been a 20 point margin when Hunt put boot to ball and Ray Faitala-Mariner put it down with the biggest bombed try so far of 2024. That play was a complete pendulum swing in favour of the visitors. North Queensland responded after Reece Robson delivered a great deception of his old club's defensive line and Sam McIntyre crossed for his first try as a Cowboy to reduce the gap to eight. With eight to go in the first half, a clever grubber wasn't defused by Sloan and Griffin Neame placed downward pressure on the ball to get the margin cut to two. Right on the half, a pinpoint Chad Townsend bomb was batted back brilliantly by Kyle Feldt into the waiting arms of Drinkwater and despite trailing early in the half, the Cowboys led 22-18 at the half. 

The second half began just the way the first ended. St George Illawarra bombed a chance, and the Cowboys capitalised on it. Leilua delivered a peach of an offload to Flanagan. He kicked, missing the flying Sloan in support which forced a dropout which wasn't defused by the home side. Following a Drinkwater 40/20, the Cowboys camped up the other end and it was the rampaging Kulikefu Finefeuiaki who charged across for the first try of the second half.

That 12 point turn-around proved very costly once more when Lomax failed to come down with a spectacular bomb take. From there, Holmes broke through before finding Tom Dearden who crosses. Just after the hour mark, Drinkwater delivered a great short ball to Holmes who runs between Hunt and Bird who crosses for his first try of the evening. Three minutes after that effort was the softest defensive effort of the night. Chad Townsend carried three defenders to the line and he was able to contort his arm to not illegally promote the ball to score to make it 46-18.

St George Illawarra finished with a consolation effort when Hunt grubber kicked the ball ahead and Lomax was able to dive on it to end the night with the last try and a score of 46-24. North Queensland's effort in the final three quarters of the match was very impressive and sets a tone for the rest of the season. St George Illawarra should take positives from the first quarter, but Shane Flanagan should take the defensive effort of the final hour and blow it up completely. That isn't what the Dragons stand for defensively, and expect a big response next weekend.