So, the Cowboys jump four points clear of the Sea Eagles and Bulldogs to lock themselves into the finals placings, meaning we now know the eight teams who will contest the finals with 10 games left in the regular season.
The eight will be the Panthers, Warriors, Dolphins, Roosters, Sharks, Rabbitohs, Knights and Cowboys in some order.
The Warriors and Knights face off tomorrow, while the Eels host the Sharks (the only team with an outside chance of climbing into the top four) in the evening.
Then in the final round, here's who the finalists will face:
Titans vs Dolphins (3rd) on Friday at 6pm AEST
Rabbitohs (6th) vs Roosters (4th) on Friday at 8pm AEST
Warriors (2nd) vs Sea Eagles on Saturday at 3pm AEST
Cowboys (8th) vs Raiders on Saturday at 5:30pm AEST
Sharks (5th) vs Storm on Saturday at 7:35pm AEST
Panthers (1st) vs Tigers on Sunday at 4:05pm AEST
That leaves us with two games next week - Bulldogs vs Broncos and Dragons vs Eels - that will be potential trials for silly new rules.
North Queensland is safely in the top eight, ending the dreams of the Manly Sea Eagles and the Canterbury Bulldogs with this win.
Look, it wasn't good and Todd Payten won't be impressed with that performance, but they've stayed alive, and now we just wait and see what order the final eight will end up in.
It's just simple short side stuff from the Cowboys and Tom Chester barges over Solomone Saukuru to crash in for his second.
That seals it.
Jarome Luai was monstered in a tackle by Braidon Burns and got up hobbling. Now he's straight off the field.
Seemingly every run is a crap shoot with Tom Mikaele and he comes up with another error here. He NEEDS to stop trying to offload.
In the meantime, Heath Mason pulls off a lifting tackle on Tom Dearden well after the ball is gone but Grant Atkins completely missed it.
They're making easy metres here as they chase points and Jarome Luai's grubber forces a dropout.
But Jake Clifford surprises the Tigers by belting it long and finds touch despite Jock Madden's desperate attempt to save it.
Fonua Pole flattens Scott Drinkwater on a lead run before Terrell May crosses for a try, and even though the idea of Drinkwater even making a slight impact on May from that far out is laughable, the bunker has no choice but to rule that an obstruction.
They're right on the Cowboys' tryline too.
I can't back the North Queensland defence to hold the line here. Not the way they've been playing.
Scott Drinkwater's kick is into no man's land, clips the left upright as the pack goes tumbling through and the ball ends up in the hands of Jaxon Purdue to score a simple try.
I genuinely believe Drinkwater was aiming at the post there.
Ethan King comes within a whisker of latching onto a beautifully improvised grubber by Jake Clifford but he's just knocked on on the line.
The Cowboys get a little momentum thanks to Jaxon Purdue down the left and then, on the right, Tom Dearden sends his back rower striding through a hole, fending off Jarome Luai and Jahream Bula en route to the line.
The Cowboys are working into a set on the Tigers' line, but Reed Mahoney throws a forward pass to Tom Mikaele on the second tackle.
That's just not good enough.
The Tigers manufacture a surprisingly good set after starting 2 metres out from their own tryline, and Jarome Luai finds the grass with his long kick, but it rolls dead.
Braidon Burns fails to contest a high ball and Tom Dearden ends up being dumped back into the in-goal.
Jahream Bula reels in the dropout, and the Tigers go straight on the attack.
Coach Todd Payten has surely given them an all-time rev-up, so let's see if they can remember how to play football.
Trent Robinson has confirmed to the media that there are fears for Sam Walker's season, with the star halfback now awaiting scans after hobbling from the field with an ankle injury in the Roosters' loss to the Dolphins earlier tonight.
"Possibly, yeah we're thinking that," Robinson replied when asked if he believed it to be a high ankle, or syndesmosis injury.
"I only saw him briefly there before he went for scans, we'll deal with that when we get to it."
It's been a frustrating half for the Cowboys and their fans in Townsville, with the struggling Tigers leading the way courtesy of a shocking 72 per cent completion rate by the eighth-placed Cowboys.
North Queensland is fighting for their finals lives against a struggling side and just isn't focused enough on holding on to the ball.
This time it's Braidon Burns fumbling in the play the ball 20 metres out.
