The Dragons have gone down to the North Queensland Cowboys 42-22 at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in skipper Ben Hunt’s 300th NRL appearance.
Hunt assisted on three of the four Dragons' tries and made 18 tackles but it proved not enough with the side falling short in front of a boisterous Townsville crowd.
A horror 10-minute period with Jayden Sullivan in the sin bin proved costly as the side conceded a trio of tries midway through the opening stanza.
Sullivan had been promoted to start in the halves prior to kick-off with Hunt shifting into dummy half and Moses Mbye dropping back to the interchange.
The Dragons scored just two minutes into the contest via front rower Jack de Belin who powered his way over off some sharp dummy-half work courtesy of Hunt.
Soon after, a Talatau Amone grubber went within inches of landing in the hands of a streaking Tyrell Sloan but an unhelpful bounce cost the Dragons a second four-pointer.
The hosts answered back moments later against the run of play through winger Kyle Feldt who was the beneficiary of a Chad Townsend break and pinpoint grubber.
There was a huge turning point midway through the first half with an apparent Coen Hess knock on from a Cowboys short drop-out going unnoticed. The home side moved 60 metres upfield from the ensuing play and although a desperate Sullivan shut down another North Queensland attacking raid, he was sin-binned after becoming entangled in the ruck.
The Cowboys capitalised with Jack Gosiewski crossing the following set to give the hosts their first lead of the encounter.
Heilum Luki pushed scored just three-and-a-half minutes later for his first try of 2023 before Valentine Holmes burst through to send Tom Dearden over under the posts just shy of the half-hour mark.
Hunt was denied a try under the sticks at the 32-minute mark after replays showed that Josh Kerr was caught in the line and impacted a defender before Toby Couchman was placed on report for an alleged hip drop.
Holmes nailed a two-point field goal on the stroke of half-time to give the Cowboys a 24-6 lead heading into the sheds.
Several Dragons attacking raids were nullified early in the second half before Luki snagged his second down the right edge as the Cowboys hit 30 points.
Jaydn Su’A pounced on a Hunt grubber that went through the hands of fullback Scott Drinkwater to score St George Illawarra’s second which Jack Bird converted to make it 30-12 with 25 to play.
Fijian international Mikaele Ravalawa scooped up a Holmes drop and scored an 80-metre beauty to bring the Dragons back within 14 approaching the final 10.
Any hopes of a red and white comeback were dashed in the subsequent set when a lost ball resulted in Feldt’s second try of the night.
Moses Suli got on the board late through a powerful last-tackle effort before Dearden pounced on a drop the following set.
