North Queensland Cowboys back in winners’ circle with 28-2 win over Newcastle Knights in Townsville

THE North Queensland Cowboys have broken their three-game losing streak with an impressive 28-2 victory over the Knights.

THE fear going in was always the letdown.

Whether the Knights, after the most draining week in the club’s history, could pick themselves up again after the high of their win over Cronulla and the emotion surrounding injured teammate Alex McKinnon.

Even coach Wayne Bennett wasn’t sure how his players would react.

The answer was a painful one for the visitors in Townsville last night.

With halfback Robert Lui and fullback Michael Morgan outstanding, North Queensland simply overran an error-riddled Newcastle side to post an emphatic win.

TODane Gagai is tackled by Johnathan Thurston.

The Cowboys were good but they had plenty of help from their opponents.

After a solid opening 15 minutes, Newcastle simply fell apart under the Cowboys onslaught.

Lui ran around all night like he was covered in spiders and if they weren’t dropping off tackles, the Knights were coughing up the ball to not give themselves a chance.

“We knew what we were doing wrong — we just were not executing,” Lui said of his side’s form leading in.

“It’s only one game, We just have to improve from here.”

Gavin Cooper is tackled by Korbin Sims.

The tactics from the Knights early on were straightforward enough.

Take on the Cowboys in behind the ruck with quick play-the-balls and hard, direct ball-running.

The early signs were positive too with Newcastle rolling up the middle with the likes of Beau Scott to the fore on the right edge.

They earnt a penalty and a two-point lead via the boot of halfback Tyrone Roberts in the seventh minute but the game’s momentum changed dramatically on the back of a Kade Snowden error on the 18 minute mark.

Compounding the mistake, skipper Kurt Gidley was penalised a tackle later and the home side didn’t waste the invitation.

Matthew Wright celebrates with Brent Tate after he scoring a try.

Lui went the short side and found his winger Matthew Wright in an acre of space with a perfectly weighted cross kick to score out wide for a 6-2 lead.

When centre Brent Tate scored three minutes later after Lui burst through Roberts and Robbie Rochow on halfway to extend the advantage to 10-2, the warning signs were well and truly out.

The Cowboys, major disappointments in the opening four rounds, suddenly had their mojo back with Lui leading the way.

Darius Boyd in action for the Knights.

The Cowboys halfback and his skipper Thurston then combined to give fullback Michael Morgan a saloon passage to the try line for a 16-2 halftime lead.

Fourteen points is hardly an insurmountable deficit in the modern game, but given their alarming error rate, it was going to take a significant shift for the Knights to fight back.

The recovery never eventuated.

If anything, the Knights compounded the hole they had already dug for themselves with even more mistakes.

Cowboys' Michael Morgan scores try.

Morgan kicked for himself and beat a sluggish Darius Boyd to the ball to score his second try eight minutes into the second half for a 22-2 advantage.

But it was perhaps the ease of replacement Ray Morgan’s try mid-way through the half that told the sorry story of the Knights night.

From 30 metres out, he took the ball from dummy half down the short side and effortlessly beat Rochow and Roberts to cross.

NORTH QUEENSLAND 28 (M Morgan 2 B Tate R Thompson M Wright tries J Thurston 4 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 2 (T Roberts goal) at 1300SMILES Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, David Munro. Crowd: 11,189.