Bulldogs unable to reel in Cowboys

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have fallen to the North Queensland Cowboys 30-18 in Round 6 of the 2021 NRL Premiership at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville.

The home side were on the board early when Kyle Feldt retrieved a cross field kick to score in the right corner inside 6 minutes.

The lead was short lived however when Bulldog's prop Renouf Atoni latched onto a Jack Hetherington offload to hustle his way under the crossbar. The try would draw both sides level at 6-all and remain deadlocked at the half time break.

Reece Robson scooted from dummy half on the other side of the break to steal the lead. Ben Condon increasing the Cowboy's lead shortly after when he squeezed through the Bulldog's left edge defence.

The match turned on it's head when Canterbury-Bankstown prop Jack Hetherington was sent off in the 55th minute after flooring North Queensland fullback Valentine Holmes with a high tackle.

Holmes was back on his feet moments later when he made a midfield break to put Jake Granville in the clear and streak over the chalk.

Despite being down to 12-men for the last 25 minutes, the Bulldog's showed some resolve with tries to Kyle Flanagan and Tui Katoa.

With minutes remaining and the game still in the balance, the Pack weren't able to reel in the home side. Mitchell Dunn putting the game out of reach to slide over and ice the match for North Queensland with the Cowboys ending the match 30-18 victors on a warm Sunday evening at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.