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IT's official. North Queensland can't fire a shot on the road _ and stand accused as the biggest underachievers in the NRL.
They were the only conclusions to draw after the Cowboys' horror away form continued with a woeful 36-28 loss to the last-placed Knights in Newcastle.
Don't be fooled by the scoreline. Newcastle led 32-10 with 14 minutes to go and merrily clocked off, allowing the Cowboys to post three late tries.
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Beau Scott runs the balls for the Knights. Source: News Corp Australia
The absence of Origin II casualties Matt Scott and Brent Tate were seismic setbacks. Factor in the loss of Ray Thompson (hamstring) and Rory Kostjasyn (ribs) and North Queensland had some mitigation to explain a defeat they could live to regret.
But nothing can truly excuse the defensive fragility of a Cowboys side that has become the NRL's Jekyll-and-Hyde riddle.
Monday night's collapse in Newcastle was their seventh consecutive away defeat. And unless Paul Green's troops learn to play outside of Townsville and defend with consistency in the middle, season 2014 will be the Cowboys' latest train wreck.
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Cowboys Johnathan Thurston after being hurt in a tackle. Source: News Corp Australia
"We need to start winning those games, it's frustrating because we are a different team defensively (away from home)," coach Green lamented.
"We need to be better in that area. It's a number of things.
"It's a bit of confidence, a bit of trust in each other ... we need to look at that."
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The Cowboys looked set to wake from their travelling siesta when Antonio Winterstein crossed after just two minutes. But then their defensive structures fell apart as the embattled Knights raced in seven tries, including a double from Maroons hopeful Dane Gagai.
Newcastle's Kurt Gidley scores a try. Source: News Corp Australia
Even the talismanic Johnathan Thurston had an off-night, twice resembling a human speed bump as Maroons teammate Darius Boyd and Gagai ran riot.
The night finished controversially for Boyd, who was reported for a high shot on Thurston in the final minute of Newcastle's hatchet job.
The Cowboys finished the round 11th with a 6-8 record and now face a daunting home clash against big guns Souths this Saturday night in Townsville.
Amid the disappointment, Green refrained from going for the jugular, looking for a silver lining in his injury-depleted squad.
Newcastle's Jeremy Smith breaks the Cowboys defence. Source: News Corp Australia
"We're under the pump in that regard, Origin II hurt us and we copped a bit of the same here losing Ray and Rory," he said.
"We had guys playing out of position, Tariq Sims was at centre at one stage, so there were some courageous efforts.
"Matt (Scott) and Tatey are Test players and it has a huge impact on your game, but there's no point whingeing about it."
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Club powerbrokers must soon start seriously asking what is going wrong. Cowboys chiefs last year deemed coach Neil Henry wasn't the answer and duly speared him. But with Henry gone, surely the buck stops with the players.
Newcastle's Dane Gagai makes a break to score a try. Source: News Corp Australia
The relief for Green is that the Cowboys have sufficient time to resurrect their season. But when you make the lowly Knights look like the Brisbane Broncos circa 1992, alarm bells are ringing.
"We need to be more desperate in defence," prop James Tamou said. "We tried to talk ourselves up ... but talking only gets you so far."
NEWCASTLE 36 (D Gagai 2 D Boyd K Gidley J Leilua T Roberts A Uate tries K Gidley 4 goals) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 28 (R Lui 2 C Rona T Sims A Winterstein tries J Thurston 4 goals) at Hunter Stadium. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 11,925
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