Cowboys

Cooper Cronk was critical of David Fifita’s switch to centre to cover the loss of Phillip Sami and it didn’t take long for the Cowboys to exploit him in defence, but he hit back to set up a try to make it 6-4.

However the Cowboys extended their lead with a try to Murray Taulagi down Fifita’s side of the field to make it 12-4.

Fifita’s tough night at the office in defence continued when Scott Drinkwater burned him off a scrum to score almost untouched.

Led by superstar lock Jason Taumalolo and star recruit Chad Townsend, North Queensland dominated possession and field position before running over the top of Canberra late in the match.

Taumalolo ran a game high 161 metres with the ball and was supported by young forwards Jeremiah Nanai, Tom Gilbert, Griffin Neame and Heilum Luki as they powered through the middle of the ruck.

The Cowboys haven’t been able to climb out of the bottom four since 2017 and according to former Maroons players Scott Sattler and Gary Belcher they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“I think that’ll be a big key for the Cowboys, I don’t think they’ll change much, I think they’re a chance to win the wooden spoon.” Sattler said on Sportsday NSW.

“I think they’re at least bottom two.”

But to do that the club’s brightest stars need to lead the way — and that could force coach Todd Payten into making a some big calls.

The Cowboys have nosedived in the past four seasons. They went from a grand final in 2017 to second last in 2018 - then finished 13th, 14th and back to 15th last year.

Tate, who played 67 of his 229-game career for the Cowboys, wants to see the current playing group put an end to the club’s horror run.

“The last few years have been pretty ordinary,” Tate told foxsports.com.au.

Dearden and Townsend both inked three-year deals with North Queensland earlier this year before spending time languishing in the reserve grade ranks for Brisbane and Cronulla respectively, with the Cowboys securing an early release for Dearden to move north two weeks ago.

The 20-year-old endured a tough first Cowboys outing in a 50-18 trouncing from Manly, having never trained or played with fullback Valentine Holmes as he was away on Origin duty when Dearden arrived in town.

The Sharks beat the North Queensland Cowboys 26-16 in Townsville on Saturday night.

But the result did not come without some worrying pre-match moments for the visitors, who scored five tries to three on their way to victory.

Six Sharks players, including Kiwis halfback Shaun Johnson, failed pre-game temperature checks, putting their participation in the game in doubt.

All six were eventually cleared to play after passing a subsequent second test.

Earlier on Saturday, Parramatta scored a controversial 19-16 win over Manly.

The $10 million man had a previous best game of 283 running metres, set in Round 15 of the 2017 season against Melbourne.

On a rainy Saturday night in front of a home crowd, he smashed his own record, steamrolling St George Illawarra for a total 301 metres according to Fox Sports Lab.

Taumalolo surpassed his own 283-metre record with 12 minutes still to play in the game. It took him 20 carries to do it, which took him to 287 metres for the night. He then had one more to crack the triple century.

Cowboys skipper Michael Morgan put it simply.

The finals series started with such promise for the harbour city with five teams finishing inside the Telstra Premiership top eight, but two weeks later that number has dwindled down to one with the Bondi boys Sydney's last hope. 

Week One of the finals saw the pride of the Northern beaches and the Shire bow out while Sydney's golden West was left reeling when the Eels and Panthers were eliminated by their Queensland foes. 

The Cowboys pulled off one of the biggest boilovers of the year in front of 41,287 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

The Cowboys only snuck into eighth spot when St George Illawarra were beaten by Canterbury in the last round but will now take on the Sydney Roosters next Saturday for a spot in the grand final.

The Townsville side were effectively written off after co-captains Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott were ruled out for the year but continue to defy the odds.