Match Details
Match Date	11th Sep, 2004
Opponent	North Queensland
Result	Loss 22-30
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Steve Price
Venue	Homebush (Telstra Stadium)
Crowd	18,371
Referee	Tim Mander

North Queensland have thrown the race for the National Rugby League title wide open after stunning favourites the Bulldogs 30-22 in their qualifying final at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney.

Queensland and Australian winger Matt Sing scored three tries as the Cowboys won against the odds in their first ever finals match.

The result, coupled with Brisbane's loss to Melbourne earlier, means defending premiers Penrith are through to a preliminary final, while St George Illawarrra have been eliminated.

An expected win to minor premiers the Sydney Roosters tomorrow would see the Cowboys take on Brisbane next week in an historic all-Queensland final, while the Storm would play the Bulldogs.

A Canberra upset would eliminate Brisbane, and pit the Raiders against the Bulldogs and the Cowboys against the Roosters, with Melbourne joining Penrith in the preliminary finals.

But the Bulldogs learned the hard way against the Cowboys that no result should be expected, and they were punished severely after seemingly having their minds on a week off.

They had won 36-16 at home in round 22 and 32-18 in Townsville in round 16, but were blown away early by the rampant visitors.

Warriors-bound half-back Nathan Fien was outstanding for North Queensland, setting up two tries and making two line breaks.

He, along with Bowen and Sing, created nightmares for the Bulldogs' defence.

Cowboys second-rowers Luke O'Donnell and Steve Southern and prop Shane Tronc were relentless.

Skipper Travis Norton was also inspirational against his former club.

"We were full of confidence, we had two tough games against the Bulldogs this year and they weren't really touch-ups so coming into this game we were fully confident," he said.

"Defensively we were very sound, they had a couple of sets on our line early. We always knew that they could turn it on at anytime and they did that in the second half, and to our boys' credit we held out."

Centre Josh Hannay was ecstatic with his team's win.

"It's awesome mate, we proved a lot of people wrong tonight," he said.

"Everyone was saying we were making up the numbers here, we knew we weren't, it's probably a big call to say that now but we were pretty confident going into the game.

"We know we've got a good side, we've been going well all year."

Bulldogs lock Tony Grimaldi and hooker Adam Perry got through a mountain of defensive work for the Dogs, whose classy half-back Brent Sherwin was out of sorts all night.

His kicking game was ineffective and, with five-eight Braith Anasta forced to sit out most of the match with a sternum injury, the home side lacked creativity.

The sin-binning of captain Steve Price in the 11th minute saw the Cowboys race in two tries and they never looked back.

North Queensland's first try came after a break down the sideline ended with Price being penalised for holding down in the play-the-ball.

His absence took immediate effect, with Hannay reaching out to score from the ensuing set.

Matt Utai was denied at the other end when his leg hit the corner flag under pressure from a heavy tackle which featured Sing.

Sing then rose high at the other end to take a Fien kick, coming down over the top of Utai to score his first.

Price came back on and the Bulldogs went on the attack, but Utai was again denied by Sing when he tried to steamroll his way over in the corner and was crunched into touch in-goal.

The ensuing set for the Cowboys saw full-back Bowen break the line, and he found five-eighth David Myles in support.

Myles was dragged down short of the line but another crossfield kick found Sing, who again got the better of Utai to score his second try.

Super-sub Sonny Bill Williams was injected into the match for the Bulldogs and made an immediate impact, charging onto a flick pass by winger Hazem El Masri to score.

El Masri added the extras before Hannay replied with a penalty for the Cowboys to make it 18-6 at the break.

North Queensland came agonisingly close to scoring a fourth try in the dying moments of the half, Fien breaking from inside his own half but dragged down just short.

The Cowboys opened the scoring in the second half when Hannay potted a penalty after Williams was nabbed for stripping the ball in a two-man tackle.

Minutes later Leigh McWilliams burst through from within his own half, ran 30 metres and offloaded to a flying Bowen who raced away to score under the posts.

A clearly mesmerised Bulldogs side were stung into action and Utai finally crossed with 17 minutes remaining, streaking down the sideline after taking a cutout pass from Andrew Ryan.

Three minutes later the Bulldogs were in again, after Myles was penalised for a second tackle on Willie Mason, which started a scuffle.

The visitors were caught short down their left side and Bulldogs centre Ben Harris evaded Bowen to dive over in the corner.

El Masri's conversion from out wide made it 26-18, giving Bulldogs fans hopes of a famous revival.

When centre Willie Tonga ran 50 metres and dragged Bowen over the last few to score with five minutes left, the home side was close.

But Bowen completed a superb night when he put a crossfield bomb with two minutes remaining and Sing once again rose above Utai to take the ball and dot down.

Source: www.abc.net.au

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