An inspirational final 10 minutes from North Queensland co-captain Tom Dearden has given the Cowboys a crucial 20-18 home win over Canterbury that has boosted their final hopes.
No.6 Dearden, one of Queensland’s best in their State of Origin series decider loss on Wednesday night, backed up with a gritty and skilful performance on Sunday.
The Cowboys trailed by two with nine minutes remaining when Dearden broke away 50m out and found rookie centre Jaxon Purdue in support.
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North Queensland held on, with Dearden putting a huge hit on Canterbury forward Josh Curran to dislodge the ball at a critical moment in the closing stages.
The win kept the Cowboys in eighth position on 24 points, with Canterbury in sixth on the same number of points but with a better for and against.
Both sides had State of Origin representatives backing up, with the Cowboys quintet of Dearden, Jeremiah Nanai, Valentine Holmes, Reuben Cotter and Reece Robson taking the field.
Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton also played after being an integral part of the NSW series win.
There was concern for Crichton in the 14th minute when he lost feeling in his right shoulder when burrowing towards the tryline. He was on the ground for several minutes in the hands of trainers before continuing.
In the next set, Bulldogs five-eighth Toby Sexton put in a perfectly weighted grubber kick for forward Josh Curran to race through to score.
Sexton laid on a near replica of that effort for Bronson Xeri to plant it down and give the visitors a 12-8 lead.
The Cowboys had opened the scoring when second-rower Heilum Luki streaked away after Bulldogs winger Jacob Kiraz dropped a Scott Drinkwater bomb.
Canterbury lost fullback Blake Wilson to the sin-bin early in the second half for a professional foul and Luki crashed over for his second try.
Kiraz made up for his earlier error when he leapt above Holmes to snaffle a deft Matt Burton bomb and score in the 55th minute.
The Bulldogs led 12-8 at halftime. They had won the previous 15 encounters with the Cowboys when leading at the break but on this occasion North Queensland showed plenty of resilience in defence to prevail.