A three try blitz in 10 minutes has rescued North Queensland's stuttering premiership campaign against the Wests Tigers in Campbelltown on Friday night.
The Tigers looked destined to notch their third win in five weeks when they took an eight point lead mid-way through the second half, only to have their pants pulled down by a resurgent Cowboys outfit.
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The Tigers had all the momentum but couldn't overcome a fast-finishing Kyle Feldt and North Queensland Cowboys.
A loss would have left North Queensland's finals aspirations on life support, however the 22-14 win means they can now only miss out on the finals if they lose to Brisbane next week and the Dragons win their last two games.
The Cowboys, who were staring down the barrel of five straight defeats, take on the Broncos in the Queensland derby up in Townsville next Thursday night and are still a slim mathematical chance of making the top four.
Local junior James Tedesco didn't have a night to remember in his final outing in his backyard, struggling to make an impact as he bid farewell to the ground he grew up on.
While the Tigers will rue yet another match they let slip, it is clear that a lot has changed in the last 20 weeks since the Ivan Cleary regime began up at Townsville with a 26-16 win over the Cowboys in round 6.
Mitchell Moses, fresh off having his contract taken off the table, led the Tigers to victory on that night. Skipper Aaron Woods and fullback James Tedesco were still being courted by the club and weighing up offers from the Roosters and Bulldogs.
Tui Lolohea was thousands of kilometres away in Auckland drinking his sorrows away having to put up with playing NSW Cup for the Warriors.
Malakai Watene-Zelezniak was walking in the shadows of his little brother at the Panthers, while Luke Brooks couldn't keep his hamstring intact long enough to string together a few games of football.
Esan who? Matt Eisenhuth and Alex Twal? Only Wests Tigers tragics knew those names were on the club's books.
And even though they are glued to the bottom end of the ladder, the changes at the Tigers are far greater than the names listed on the team sheet every Tuesday afternoon.
Once a group with talented individuals, Cleary has begun transforming the Tigers to talented individuals in a team.
And while the talents at their disposal may be far inferior to those at the top of the ladder, few could question the application shown by this relative team of no names that just couldn't get the job done against the Cowboys without Johnathan Thurston.
With Josh Reynolds, Ben Matulino, Russell Packer and Chris McQueen on their way out to Tiger town next year, it's somewhat of a shame Woods and Tedesco won't be around to reap the benefits of the hard work instilled under Cleary since that night in Townsville 20 weeks ago.
The captain, who will farewell the Tigers at Leichhardt in the last round next weekend, set the tone early when he pushed through some soft Cowboys defence to give his side a 6-0 buffer.
Te Maire Martin, who the Tigers tried to sign as a replacement for Moses earlier in the year, showed his class when he hit back to level the score for the Cowboys.
However a try to Josh Aloiai on the stroke of half time sent the Tigers into the sheds with a four point buffer. It looked like the Tigers would cruise to victory when Watene-Zelezniak extended his side's lead to 14-6, only for Kyle Feldt to bag a double to help the Cowboys reclaim the lead by two points with 12 minutes remaining. Michael Morgan scored late to put the result beyond doubt.
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