The Broncos have beaten a mistake riddled Cowboys side 32-18 at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Friday night.
Brisbane laid the platform in the first half when they scored five unanswered tries and fed off a barrage of Cowboys errors. The Broncos pack dominated the ruck while the kicking game of Michael Ennis and Peter Wallace kept the Cowboys running it out of their own half.
Karmichael Hunt was at his attacking best from kick returns while Ennis controlled the match from dummy half.
Sam Thaiday and Denan Kemp grabbed doubles for the Broncos who have consolidated their position in the top eight with their ninth win of the season.
The Cowboys have slumped to their 11th successive loss and suffered further bad news with centre Ashley Graham dislocating his shoulder, joining a large list of stars unavailable.
The onslaught started early with Brisbane taking advantage of a John Williams knock on from a Darren Lockyer bomb. Two minutes later a sweeping move including a final 20m cut out pass from Thaiday resulted in Kaine Matihera scoring in the left corner.
A Ray Cashmere knock on 35m out from his own line lead to the Broncos second try. A gentle Wallace chip that was seemingly covered by Cowboys winger Ty Williams bounced on its point straight into the arms of a rampaging Thaiday who crashed over. Ennis's conversion made it 10-0 after 15mins.
Brisbane had their third in the 26th minute when Kemp swooped on a deft Ennis grubber that was spilt by John Williams under immense pressure from Greg Eastwood.
The Cowboys were punished again for an error when Wallace intercepted a Cashmere pop pass with the hosts on the attack. Wallace shifted it quickly to Joel Moon who jinked his way 50m down field. The next play saw Darius Boyd score out wide.
Then three minutes later Thaiday had a double after Wallace took it to the line, turned it inside to Hunt who then slipped it back to Thaiday to score under the posts. The conversion gave the visitors a commanding 26-0 lead at the first break.
Cowboys coach Ian Millwood would have been pleased with his players heeding his halftime message of controlling the ball and showing some heart.
They scored the opening two tries of the half and finished up winning the half 18-6.
Two tries in five minutes, the first off the Cowboys first attacking kick of the half to John Williams and the second to big prop Shane Tronc breathed life into the match with the score suddenly 26-12 with 25mins to play.
The hosts had their chance to close the gap immediately with successive penalties putting them deep on attack. But a dropped ball by Dayne Weston as he was crashing over halted the momentum.
Four minutes later Brisbane put the result beyond doubt with Kemp showing some sharp footwork to score to take the score out to 30-12.
A clumsy Cashmere flop right in front of the posts allowed the Broncos to extend the lead to 20pts with ten minutes to play before Steve Southern scored a consolation try with three minutes to play to round out the scoring.
Brisbane prepare to host the Sharks next Friday night, while the injury ravaged Cowboys head down to Sydney to face the Eels.
Brisbane Broncos 32
Tries: Kemp 2, Thaiday 2, Matihera, Boyd tries
Conv: Ennis 3
Pen: Ennis
North Queensland Cowboys 18
Tries: John Williams, Tronc, Southern
Conv: John Williams 3
Sportal’s NRL Player of the Year:
3 – Karmichael Hunt (Broncos)
2 – Michael Ennis (Broncos)
1 – Peter Wallace (Broncos)