League: Thurston take some blame for loss

Salvage expert Johnathan Thurston launched the rescue mission then bagged himself for not finishing the job properly in his post mortem to the Cowboys' gripping 30-24 loss to Brisbane on Friday night.

The scheming skipper was the spark behind North Queensland's second-half revival coming from 24-0 down to be tied 24-24 with 10 minutes to play before Broncos flash Denan Kemp scorched 30 metres for the match-clinching try in the 75th minute.

While Thurston rued the fact his side gave Brisbane such a big head start he was full of praise for the way they came back so hard late in the game.

"The team showed a lot of character and mental strength," said Thurston, whose second-half performance was blistering so early in the season.

"Broncos put 24 points on us and it was pretty hard to come back.

"I don't think too many teams would come back but we showed character and mental strength to come back like we did.

"They flicked a few (balls) out the back and took their opportunities, we didn't take ours in the first half." Thurston confessed he never contemplated a shot at field goal after getting into Brisbane's 30 metres at 24-24.

He tried a pin point chip kick with five minutes left when he probably should have grubbered the ball in goal to force a repeat set.

"You think about those things before the game, but in the heat of the moment you sort of, if you like, have a brain explosion.

"You've just got to be better than that." Coach Neil Henry, meanwhile, questioned how Israel Folau was given a benefit on the doubt try on "obstruction" early in the game and was also puzzled by other obstruction decisions during the game.

"There was no doubt Israel Folau put the ball down so I don't know if the benefit of the doubt was on obstruction, I didn't know we had benefit of the doubt on obstruction, it's either obstruction or it's not," he said.

"It was disappointing to get that decision against us.

"But the spark is there and there's enough there for us to work with that's for sure." Henry was happy enough with Willie Mason's effort when he came into the game at 24-0 down to the boos of the 48,000-strong crowd.

"It took three or four men to put him down and they certainly committed numbers to the tackle.

"He'll be much better for the run." Centre Willie Tonga (neck) who was a major threat on the left side and hooker Aaron Payne, who'll be checked for rib damage, were the Cowboys major injury concerns.