Cowboys 38 Bulldogs 32

It took 59 minutes for North Queensland to shake the earth as they outlined their premiership credentials at Dairy Farmers Stadium last night, and then the next 21 to be exposed as absolutely hopeless without their master puppeteer Johnathan Thurston.

In a drama-filled match worthy of the Broadway stage, the chief protagonist, Thurston, steered the Cowboys to what seemed an unassailable 38-10 lead before being cotton-woolled for the finals by coach Graham Henry.

Then all hell broke loose as the Dogs took advantage of a headless-chook Cowboys defence to scream back into the match with four tries in 12 minutes, before falling just short, 38-32.

There could not have been a clearer illustration of North Queensland's fate in the NRL finals series should their halfback get injured.

"We lose our way a little bit but we're not a two-man team," Thurston told Channel Nine afterwards, in reference to a jibe from Dogs prop Willie Mason.

"It's the business end of the season, we've got some momentum that we're carrying into the finals, which is good."

In front of 24,050, the two teams played an entertaining, expansive contest. The Dogs will be sweating on a decision by the NRL judiciary on Monday after their star forward, Sonny Bill Williams, was placed on report for a late, high shot on Thurston in the fifth minute. Williams's forearm came into contact with Thurston's head as he tried to put pressure on a midfield kick.

Referee Shayne Hayne was alerted to the incident by video referee Tim Mander, who picked up the hit on replay.

The Cowboys had led 20-10 at half-time but returned to the field turbo-charged, blowing the Dogs off the park with furious attacking raids.

In a seven-minute blitz they scored three tries - to five-eighth Justin Smith in the 50th minute, then Thurston and replacement back Ben Farrar, who finished with a double.

The Bulldogs' late flurry was started by a try to Willie Tonga two minutes after Thurston was benched, and was quickly followed by two four-pointers to fullback Luke Patten and one to Williams in between.

A powerhouse surge from replacement prop Ray Cashmere led to Farrar's first on the stroke of half-time.

The Dogs had bounced back after being rattled by two early tries to Cowboys winger Ty Williams to score a pair of their own. Down 14-0 after 21 minutes, the Dogs hit back with tries to Andrew Ryan and Daryl Millard.

An early Thurston penalty goal was followed by Williams's first try in the 16th minute. Thurston created it with a perfectly timed cut-out pass to the winger, who caught the ball and touched down in the corner. Thurston converted the try from the sideline, with the ball hitting the post and ricocheting in. He finished with seven goals from seven attempts.

Williams scored again five minutes later, in the same spot, when the Dogs failed to wrap up the ball. Hooker Corey Payne took on the defence and was hit hard but pushed the ball back towards his teammates. Paul Bowman picked up the loose ball and passed to centre partner Ashley Graham, who quickly flicked it to the unmarked Williams for an easy putdown.

Bulldogs star Willie Mason, returning from a wrist injury, was damaging each time he ran and set up his team's opening try by taking a quick tap from a penalty 20 metres out. The representative forward stood in a Bowman tackle and drew Thurston towards him before sending a sweetly timed pass to his skipper Ryan, who barged over.

Hazem El Masri's conversion brought the gap between the teams back to eight points.

Then Millard slid over in the corner after a quick spread five minutes later after taking a pass from Patten.

NORTH QUEENSLAND 38 (T Williams 2 B Farrar 2 J Smith J Thurston tries J Thurston 7 goals) bt BULLDOGS 32 (L Patten 2 A Ryan D Millard W Tonga S Williams tries H El Masri 4 goals) at Dairy Farmers Stadium. Referee: S Hayne. Crowd 24,050.