The Cowboys went ahead early and were never headed by the sluggish Raiders, who now look unlikely to make the National Rugby League top eight.

The Raiders inability to travel again let them down- they have won just once in ten appearances away from Canberra Stadium.

The win lifts North Queensland off the bottom of the NRL ladder, last place is now being held solely by the Penrith Panthers.

The Cowboys looked to go ahead with a burrowing try to halfback Nathan Fien in the fourth minute, but video referee Eddie Ward ruled that he was held up by a desperate tackle from Phil Graham.

But straight from the scrum win North Queensland crossed for the game’s opening try, winger Ty Williams barging through two tacklers to score underneath the posts. Josh Hannay added the extras to put the home side up 6-0.

North Queensland were full of confidence in front of a parochial crowd, fullback Matt Bowen scoring in the eleventh minute with a mesmerising run from his own goal line after the Raiders bombed a try with their first attacking movement.

Hannay’s conversion boosted the lead to 12 points, the visiting Canberra side swept up by the Cowboys frenetic start.

In the 16th minute the Raiders crossed through winger Joel Monaghan on a wrap around play with five eighth Mark McLinden. Referee Tim Mander checked for obstruction, but the four-pointer was give the all clear by Ward.

Graham- playing fullback in the absence of Clinton Schifcofske- couldn’t convert the try from a difficult angle, Canberra back to within eight points of North Queensland.

Soon after, busy video referee Ward ruled a penalty against North Queensland for offside, after Matt Sing claimed a try. Video replays showed that the former Maroons representative was in front of the kick of Fien.

The Raiders were continually struggling to keep possession in their own half, careless dropped ball allowing North Queensland to build pressure. Sing scored in the right hand corner, getting his four-pointer two minutes after his first effort was disallowed.

Hannay missed the conversion from the touchline, but the impressive Cowboys were out to a handy 16-4 lead over the error prone Raiders midway through the first half.

Yet another mistake from the Raiders inside their twenty metres soon led to another Cowboys try. North Queensland second rower Chris Muckert brushed aside some ordinary defence from Canberra, and strolled under the posts. Hannay’s conversion put the score out to 22-8 after half an hour.

Canberra had the better of the last ten minutes, but were unable to lessen the 22-8 deficit before the halftime siren sounded.

On the first set of six after halftime the Raiders lost second rower Michael Hodgson to a suspected broken collarbone, but somehow he managed to smile as he was assisted from the field by trainers. Soon after, Canberra nearly scored through Monaghan in the corner, but he was denied a double by a brush with the corner post.

The Raiders, needing to score, crept back into the match with a darting dummy half try to captain Simon Woolford. Another shocking goal kick from the Canberra- this time by Joel Monaghan- kept them behind the Cowboys 10 points with half an hour remaining.

In the 53rd minute Raiders second rower Tyran Smith was placed on report by referee Tim Mander for dropping his knees on the Cowboys Hannay- an ugly but seemingly unintentional incident that is likely to draw the wrath of judiciary commissioner Jim Hall.

In the 56th minute Sing scored his double for North Queensland, the try converted from the sideline by Hannay to give the Cowboys the match winning 28-12 lead, Canberra down to just one healthy player on the bench with injuries claiming Hodgson, Sean Rutgerson and Troy Thompson.

Woolford hit back with his second try in the 65th minute, Managhan finally converting a Raiders try to make the score 28-18.

Matt Bowen nearly added another try in the final five minutes, but he was penalised for obstruction by video referee Ward and the try was disallowed, before Paul Bowman scored a converted try in the final minute to make the score 34-18.