The big winners from Round 1 after a dominant performance against the Dolphins, North Queensland are back at home to face a Knights side hurting from a first-up defeat to the Raiders.
Under the guidance of former premiership-winning half James Maloney, who has taken on the role of club attack coach, the Cowboys played an expansive brand that included scoring four times after running it on last tackle against the 'Phins in a 43-18 win.
Newcastle on the other hand fell to a disappointing 28-12 defeat in front of a sold-out crowd at McDonald Jones Stadium, with a bad collapse in the final 20 minutes seeing them leak three tries.
After being ruled out at half-time last week with a quad injury Enari Tuala misses the game and Thomas Jenkins earn his first appearance for the Knights after signing from the Panthers over the off-season.
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Team News
Cowboys: The home side remain 1-17 on game day with coach Todd Payten having the luxury of naming the same side who led an impressive win over the Dolphins to launch the season. Tom Mikaele is 18th man.
Knights: No late changes for the Knights on game day. Former Panther Tom Jenkins plays his first game for the Knights in place of Enari Tuala (quad). Englishman Kai Pearce-Paul has been promoted to the starting side after a strong showing off the bench in Round 1. Brodie Jones is 18th-man while co-captain Jayden Brailey (hamstring) remains sidelined.
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Stat Attack
- The Cowboys have not opened with consecutive wins since 2017.
- The Knights have not won in Townsville since 2015.
- Cowboys centre Valentine Homes requires 12 points for 1,000 NRL points.
- The Knights have failed to score more than 20 points in their past 11 games in Townsville.
- Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt requires one try to equal Matt Bowen’s club try scoring record.
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Stats supplied by David Middleton, League Information Services, author of the official annual of the NRL.