It’s the NRL equivalent of a bald men fighting over a comb in 2020 but Gold Coast are currently Queensland’s best rugby league team after a 30-10 win over North Queensland.
The Titans snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Cowboys in style at CBUS Super Stadium on Sunday, racing to a six-tries-to-two win in arguably their best display under coach Justin Holbrook.
The win lifts the Titans above the Cowboys into 13th on the ladder.
With Brisbane languishing below both clubs in 15th after their run of 10 defeats from their past 11 matches, the Titans are now the highest-placed of the Queensland teams in the competition.
It’s also the first time in 10 years the Cowboys have lost six matches in a row.
The Titans were sensational in the opening 40 minutes, charging to 20-0 lead as the Cowboys imploded.
Fullback AJ Brimson, playing in his second match back from injury, scored a double as the Titans dominated possession and territory.
The Cowboys were as bad as the Titans were good in the opening period, with captain Michael Morgan having a day to forget on his return from a shoulder injury that had kept him sidelined since March.
Morgan had five missed tackles in the opening term, two of which led directly to Titans’ tries.
He was also pinged for an escort penalty late in the half, with the Titans going on to score through Brimson from the resulting set.
In total the Cowboys had a paltry 59 per cent completion rate for the half, missing 23 tackles and making seven errors.
The rout continued in the second half with Kevin Proctor producing a special play to bat back a kick that had gone over the dead ball line for Brian Kelly to score.
After that play the Cowboys finally responded.
Kyle Feldt pounced after a horror bounce took a Morgan grubber away from Titans’ winger Phillip Sami before Justin O’Neill made it back-to-back tries for the visitors minutes later.
A threatened comeback didn’t materialise as the Titans regained the upper hand with Sami wrapping up the scoring in the 69th minute.
The Cowboys only slightly improved their completion rate to 63 per cent and made a total of 14 errors.
Gold Coast will look to build on their win on Saturday when they take on Cronulla while the Cowboys take on South Sydney in Townsville.