Valentine Holmes has etched himself into North Queensland record books days after announcing his exit from the club, scoring a hat-trick in their 42-4 win over a woeful Canberra.
Holmes finished with a club-record 26 points of his own in Townsville on Saturday night to cap a week in which his place in the side was questioned and he signed with St George Illawarra for next year.
Jake Clifford also impressed after being preferred at halfback for the axed Chad Townsend, scoring one try and setting up two others in the Cowboys’ biggest win of 2024.
Scott Drinkwater and Tom Dearden were among others to star, as the hosts sent a message one month out from the NRL’s finals.
With the bye next week, a win over one of Melbourne or Canterbury in the final two rounds would be enough to guarantee North Queensland a finals spot.
Even losses in both games would likely be enough, with a worst-case scenario only having North Queensland miss out on for-and-against if results went against them.
A home final is also up for grabs if they win their last two matches.
For Canberra, their fate is now out of their own hands after a night where they were caught out too often defensively on their edges and missed their best chances to score early.
Coach Ricky Stuart has always defended his players’ commitment in an up-and-down season, but this insipid performance was a bridge too far.
“It was a boys’ performance tonight,” he said.
“I know that we’re a better football team than we were out there tonight, but I’m not going to protect those blokes in there.
“That was a real precious, spoiled type of game tonight, the way we played. We weren’t prepared to get uncomfortable, we weren’t prepared to do the grind and the hard work.
“We got into the arm wrestle in that first eight to 10 minutes and we were the first team to break. That’s what I can’t cop.”
Stuart’s men will finish the round four points out of the top eight, in 12th spot on the ladder, if the Dragons win on Sunday.
That will leave them likely needing to beat Penrith and the Sydney Roosters in the next fortnight to enter their final-round clash against the Red V with any chance.
There are no such worries for North Queensland.
Scoring points has never been a problem for them this season, but it is the manner in which they did it with Clifford in the halves.
He made an immediate impact when he burst through on the right edge in the fourth minute, put Reece Robson into the clear and then loomed up in support play to score himself.
The halfback set up another first-half try when he got outside Ethan Strange at first receiver from a scrum, drew in Sebastian Kris and put Kyle Feldt over in the corner.
Another try came off a scrum in the second half, when he created space to the right and sent Feldt over for his second.
Then there was Holmes, whose 26 points for the game topped Johnathan Thurston’s previous mark of 24 at the club.
“What I liked about Val’s game tonight was the way he tackled and the way he defended,” Cowboys coach Todd Payten said.
“His overall game tonight was the best it’s been all season, so hats off to him.”
Holmes scored his first when he ran onto a bullet cut-out ball from Drinkwater, and had his second handed to him on a platter after a simple drop from Simi Sasagi.
The centre’s hat-trick was complete when he ran onto a cross-field kick from Dearden, out-jumping Xavier Savage to make it 36-4 early in the second half.
