For years, the Cowboys have shown they can be brilliant. On Saturday night, they showed they have some spine.
North Queensland defeated New Zealand 28-24 in an NRL match they had no right to win, and it was all because of a young hooker named Jake Granville.
Since Cowboys life member Aaron Payne retired at the end of the 2012 season, they have rotated a shopping list of would-be rakes to find his replacement.
On Saturday, Granville declared his intention to render that search over.
The Cowboys were 12-0 down after just eight minutes. It could have been more if not for some woeful Warriors ball handling.
But Granville hauled the Cowboys back into the match with his three-try effort - his first in his 17 NRL-game career.
His first came though brilliant support play, ghosting up with Lachlan Coote and Johnathan Thurston as they cut through the line.
His second came through a display of skill and strength as he dummied then beat his defender to plant the ball.
Finally, with the game on the line, he sold the biggest dummy of his career to slam the ball over from dummy-half and claim victory for his side.
It was Thurston's 250th NRL match, and he admitted his side had played "some dumb footy".
But he reserved praise for Granville and fullback Coote.
"Those two have been outstanding for us," he said.
"They've had some real tough carries. We've been able to play off the back of that."
Coach Paul Green has long known the brilliance of Granville, having coached him at Wynnum Manly in the Queensland Cup when the club claimed back-to-back titles in 2011-12.
"Obviously I've (had) a long association with him," he said.
"I've seen him doing that for years, so I'm just happy that he's doing it at this level."
Warriors coach Andrew McFadden was left gutted and lamenting a game his side probably should have won.
"There's not a lot of difference between jubilation and disappointment, and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that tonight," he said.
"A lot of effort there, but we just couldn't finish it off.
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