The North Queensland Cowboys have beaten the Canterbury Bulldogs 20-10 at ANZ Stadium

TEST prop James Tamou was taken to hospital as the resurgent Cowboys left Brisbane’s finals hopes on life support with a boilover victory.

Cowboy's James Tamou goes off injured during the game between the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs and North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium,Homebush.Picture Gregg Porteous

TEST prop James Tamou was taken to hospital last night as the resurgent Cowboys left Brisbane’s finals hopes on life support with a 20-12 upset of the Bulldogs.

North Queensland’s title campaign is alive and kicking after stunning the Dogs with their second straight away win, in the process ending an eight-year drought at ANZ Stadium.

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Cowboy's James Tamou down injured.

But the ominous Cowboys stampede was tempered by the sight of key enforcer Tamou being assisted from the field clutching his left arm in the 17th minute.

Tamou was felled by friendly fire, colliding heavily in a tackle with teammate Ashton Sims, and left the ground for scans on a possible neck injury.

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Cowboy's James Tamou goes off injured.

The Cowboys will hope the setback is not serious for they are already sweating on the return of Tamou’s cohort Matt Scott, who fractured his cheekbone in Origin III.

But even without Tamou, North Queensland dominated the Dogs. And with the talismanic Johnathan Thurston running red-hot at ANZ, the Cowboys now look the real deal.

Spluttering like an old lawnmower for most of the year, the Cowboys wake today in seventh, relegating the Broncos to ninth after their loss to Melbourne 24 hours earlier.

Cowboy's Ashton Sims offloads as he takes on the Bulldogs defence.

With two home games coming up against the Titans and Tigers, the Cowboys can sniff the top-four, buoyed by shaking a road gorilla that resembled King Kong.

“The monkey is off our back,” a relieved Thurston said.

“It was an important win against Cronulla (last week) and we haven’t won here in eight years, so it’s pretty pleasing.

“We are back in the top eight ... and now we have to stay there.”

Bulldogs players looking dejected after a Cowboys try.

Of Tamou’s health, Cowboys coach Paul Green said: “He’s gone for precautionary scans, but I think he’s not too bad.”

The visitors showed great resolve to conjure a Bulldogs boilover. They missed the jump and trailed 6-0 after 13 minutes, but held their nerve even when Tamou hobbled off to win a Homebush street fight.

Cowboy's Kane Linnett offloads the ball.

Not surprisingly, it was their toughest little hombre, Thurston, who kept swinging.

His 28th minute chip-kick for two-try winger Matt Wright helped the Cowboys to a 12-6 half-time lead. And when he created Antonio Winterstein’s 47th-minute try with a sublime cut-out ball, the Cowboys had the look of a ruthless unit exuding a premiership mojo.

North Queensland’s capacity to win away from the Townsville tropics was seen as the final impediment to their installation as a genuine premiership contender.

Now, having beaten the 2012 grand-finalists at the venue that annually hosts the grand final, the Cowboys can charge to the playoffs bereaved of fear.

“We’ve played better for 80 minutes in games, but we showed steel in defence,” Green said.

Cowboy's Johnathan Thurston is tackled to the ground.

“We can’t steal wins in this comp, but we have our eyes on playing September footy and you need to aim up in these games, particularly defensively.

“I never felt we were too far away and Canterbury are traditionally a tough team, so it was good to win in that fashion.”

Coach Green deserves kudos. His side’s resurrection can be traced to a calculated gamble to shift Thurston from five-eighth to halfback after Newcastle towelled them up a month ago.

Since Thurston reclaimed the No.7 jumper, the Cowboys have won three of four games. Now co-captain Scott could return next week. The premiership puzzle is coming together. Somebody stop them.

NORTH QUEENSLAND 20 (M Wright 2 A Winterstein tries J Thurston 4 goals) bt CANTERBURY 12 (M Brown J Jackson tries T Hodkinson 2 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Alan Shortall. Crowd: 9,873.