FINAL SCORE: North Queensland Cowboys 26 - Brisbane Broncos 20
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Again, 80 minutes of football could not split them. Again, Johnathan Thurston would be the man to bring deliverance to the Far North when they met the Broncos. And again, the Cowboys could be on the way to another NRL grand final.
Like last year's decider – and like every match they've played since – this was a clash for the ages. It's as if they've trademarked the notion of the rugby league epic. At the end of extra time in Townsville, it was 26-20 to the Cowboys. Brisbane are gone for 2016.
With the scores locked at 20-20 at full-time, the teams embarked on the first extra period since 1998. Thurston's inside flick to Michael Morgan would be enough to avoid golden point but the winning movement really belonged to Jason Taumalolo, North Queensland's rampaging lock who set it up with the shockwaves of his barnstorming run. He was the best on the park, bordering on unstoppable.
Corey Parker retired on a losing note but typically emptied the tank in a match worthy of being a grand final. Lachlan Coote had a shocker with the hands but gets away with it as the Cowboys retreat to rest up before meeting the Sharks.
Matt Gillett's week started on a high with his new contract but ended with a fateful attempted trip in the 79th minute that allowed Thurston to level scores and send it to overtime. He was put on report and would give anything to have that moment over again.
Ben Hunt ticked one off the list early when he swallowed the kick-off in front of the hostile crowd with minimal issue, although his hooker, Andrew McCullough, ended the set on a sour note when he booted it out on the full.
North Queensland struck last but Brisbane opened the account after just a few minutes when Andrew McCullough burrowed over for the 6-0 lead, soon extended to eight as Parker earned a penalty and Jordan Kahu did the honours.
Expect the unexpected when these teams meet. The Cows surged back when Kyle Feldt lit them up from long-range to set up Coen Hess, who backed up superbly and went over out wide to make it 8-4 with 20 minutes gone.
Thurston elected for a penalty to make it 8-6 after 33 minutes, perhaps as much as to provide a break in play as to inch closer to Brisbane's lead. The pace of play was breathtaking and any gain on the scoreboard was hard to knock back.
Coote was let off for an early forward pass on his line but not this time. In what always looked to be a huge moment, he failed to secure Darius Boyd's grubber just a minute before the break and Kahu pounced, stretching the lead at half-time to 14-6.
The stats didn't embolden the Cowboys with confidence. In 2016, they've won just one out of 10 when trailing at half-time. Brisbane, on the other hand, love to front-run, winning 14 of their 16 when turning in front.
Coote's nightmare evening showed no signs of ending. He made a huge mess of a bouncing kick in the 53rd minute but escaped without any further points being conceded. Instead, somehow, two minutes later the Cowboys were in under the posts through Justin O'Neill and they trimmed the deficit to two.
Six minutes later, O'Neill was carving a tired defence to shreds. Brisbane looked shot. He waltzed straight through Corey Oates and Alex Glenn to score his second try in five minutes and Thurston got the friendly bounce to make it 18-14.
Cowboys home? Nope. While his forwards could barely pick up their feet, Oates went 80m to make it 20-18 with less than 10 on the clock. Brisbane home? Nope. Matt Gillett was reported for a trip on Thurston a minute from time, with the penalty squaring things up.
It went to the first finals extra time since 1998 and few would have been surprised to see Thurston take centre stage. He set up Morgan to end the first five minutes, with the try on the back of a stupendous charge from Taumalolo and making it 26-20.
Brisbane had no answer and when Ben Hunt dropped it after breaking clear in the final minutes, all hope had been extinguished and another classic entered into the history books.
The story ‘North Queensland Cowboys register yet another epic win over Brisbane Broncos’ first appeared on the Sydney Morning Herald.
