That'll do me for tonight, hope you enjoyed what was two really good games of footy. 

Remember, the ABC is blogging every game of the NRL season so we'll back tomorrow for Sea Eagles-Dragons and Dolphins-Titans. 

Have a sick one!

Todd Payten starts his presser with the words "I'm so disappointed" and that kind of sums it up. Says they wouldn't have beaten Temora Dragons the way they played tonight and said they should have been down by more at halftime. 

Said he was most disappointed by the reaction to the Dearden tackle, how it didn't spark any kind of reaction at all. 

Makes a point that because of new rules around tackling kickers you can only pressure them front on, which makes it difficult, but says it's the back fives job to catch the ball and they didn't do it. 

Walters says he was inspired by Penrith's undermanned effort last night.

"They just rolled Penrith out and we've had some disruptions to our team but we rolled the Broncos out tonight."

Wraps Reynolds as well, says his early kicking game helped them build so much pressure. Says it's exactly why they brought him to the club. 

"Tonight we showed that resolve with our defence that was really impressive and playing football that's good to watch."

A masterclass kicking exhibition by Brisbane captain Adam Reynolds has inspired a 38-12 win over a wasteful North Queensland.

The 33-year-old half had the ball on a string with his short and long kicking game in front of a crowd of 45,793 at Lang Park. 

Reynolds terrorised the Cowboys' back three in the first half to fire his side to a 20-12 lead at the break.

Fullback Scott Drinkwater and wingers Kyle Feldt and Murray Taulagi dropped floating bombs by the Broncos skipper that led to points.

Reynolds was returning from a medial collateral ligament strain that led to him missing last week's loss to Penrith.

His return gave the Broncos direction and belief in a vital second win for the season.

A highlight of the match was a tackle in the 50th minute by Cowboys co-captain Tom Dearden, who ran the length of the field to tackle Broncos centre Selwyn Cobbo into touch inches from the tryline.

It was a tackle that recalled Scott Sattler's unforgettable effort on Todd Byrne in the 2003 grand final.

Unfortunately for Dearden, his teammates were way off the pace.

Drinkwater let one Reynolds floater bounce in the first half and the game looked up. The Broncos spun it wide for Jesse Arthars to make it 14-0 in as many minutes after hooker Billy Walters had scooted over early.

A pinpoint Reynolds grubber kick set up centre Kotoni Staggs for another try..

The Cowboys were ill-disciplined and kept themselves in the game through individual brilliance

Taulagi flew down the left touchline and kicked infield off the outside of his boot for the ball to land in centre Valentine Holmes's lap for their first try.

Drinkwater genius to step Tristan Sailor and sprint away to score in the corner earned North Queensland their second.

The Cowboys went to sleep at marker in the 54th minute and bench hooker Tyson Smoothy darted over for a 26-12 lead.

Ezra Mam and veteran Corey Oates iced the win with late tries.

The Broncos had previously won only seven of 20 games without representative prop Payne Haas since 2019.

In Haas's absence with a knee injury, lock Pat Carrigan had his best game of the season.

AAP

A win like this would be impressive for Brisbane even if Payne Haas and Reece Walsh were playing. Given they weren't that's an absolute ripper, a real statement victory. North Queensland were just way too loose - 17 errors from them, including 6 to Drinkwater, tells the story. 

Drinkwater's had a horror night. He makes another error, this time in contact as he's returning a kick. 

And Brisbane get one to finish and it's again Reynolds who catches Drinkwater out of position with a nice little grubber and Oates is on hand to score. That'll be a popular one, Oates is back in the team for the first time this season and he's got his first NRL try in 18 months. Reynolds converts and it's a smash up now, Brisbane lead 38-12. 

It's Mam who finds the killer blow, he catches Drinkwater out of position, kicks for himself and he's the first man there to put it down. Great try, terrific to see Mam playing footy with a smile on his face. Reynolds converts and it's 32-12 Brisbane.

Some set restarts get North Queensland down Brisbane's end and they look for something down the right edge but Laybutt's pass to Feldt is wayward and the Broncos survive. Starting to feel like Brisbane are going to take this one home. 

Take a look at this. What an effort from Dearden, he never gave up on it. 

Laybutt throws a bad offload and Drinkwater knocks it on. Just a couple of tackles later Smoothy throws a couple of dummies and walks through some feeble defence close to the line to score. Reynolds converts and it's Broncos 26-12.