A Valentine Holmes field goal In the dying stages of a classic Queensland NRL derby has given North Queensland a 19-18 victory over Brisbane.
Led by a heroic captain's knock from Jason Taumalolo, the Cowboys came back from a 12-8 halftime deficit to snatch victory in the final ten minutes of the contest.
Todd Payten's men are quickly becoming the comeback kings of the NRL, starting slow and finishing hard as they gave up 22 missed tackles in the first half, 44 in total.
Second-half tries to Connelly Lemuelu and Taumalolo were the difference as the Broncos buckled before a 22,222 strong Townsville crowd willing the Cowboys to a gutsy victory.
Taumalolo was the standout on the night, logging 223 run metres, scoring a try and providing the offload to set up Holmes' game-winning field goal.
The skipper, who's still nursing pain to his injured hand, put the team on his shoulders with barnstorming runs, attracting, three or four defenders at a time.
A rare blight in Taumalolo's performance came when he knocked on with eight minutes left in the contest near the Broncos line but he made up for it shortly after.
A 40 metre break by halfback Jake Clifford got the home side great field position before Taumalolo crashed over under the posts off Scott Drinkwater's inside pass.
Holmes added the extras from right in front leaving the scores tied 18-18 with four minutes to play.
The Cowboys went the length of the field off their next set through Clifford's break before Holmes, who wasn't first choice for the field goal, slotted a shot from 25 metres out to put the home side ahead.
It had been far from clear sailing for the Cowboys after stuttering their way through the opening stanza.
Although the home side opened the scoring through Kyle Feldt, after he miraculously twisted his arm free from two tacklers to plant down on an angle in the corner, the Broncos quickly hit back through Xavier Coates off a set play.
At 6-6 all after 20 minutes, the match became an arm wrestle, Brisbane unlucky not to be further ahead after having two tries disallowed.
Rhys Kennedy then scored off a Tyson Gamble short pass but the Broncos' 12-8 halftime lead wouldn't be enough as the Cowboys lifted late.
