Newcastle ruined North Queensland's return to Dairy Farmers Stadium with a 12-point victory in Townsville on Saturday night.

Backing up from their comprehensive opening round drubbing of Penrith, the Knights continued their winning ways with a 34-22 win.

The Knights were too good in the first 60 minutes and had enough of a lead to withstand a mini-Cowboys comeback towards the end.

Despite the absence of skipper Kurt Gidley, the Knights dominated the match with Wes Naiqama and Akuila Uate combining to cause plenty of headaches down the right hand side.

The pair was instrumental in two of Newcastle's first half tries and combined for the opener on seven minutes.

Ben Jones put the Cowboys back into the match just before halftime, scoring his first try in North Queensland colours directly underneath the posts.

The Knights continued the scoring rout early in the second half, with Richie Fa'aoso and Beau Henry both crossing in the opening 10 minutes.

Henry stepped his marker to find a large hole in the Cowboys line on 50 minutes.

And James McManus put the match beyond doubt on 62 minutes after the Cowboys defence was unable to bring down Cory Patterson and his flick to Junior Sa'u was played out wide.

Leeson Ah Mau kept the Cowboys in touch when he forced his way over in the 69th minute, and Ash Graham added some respectability to the scoreline with two late tries.

Graham, playing in his 100th NRL game for the Cowboys, received a Johnathan Thurston cut-out pass to cross down the right hand side.

Coming off the back of a 16-14 victory in Brisbane in round one, the Cowboys will be left to rue their inability to hold onto the ball in attack.

Knights backrower Zeb Taia will face the judiciary for a swinging arm on Gavin Cooper on 17 minutes.

Knights coach Rick Stone was impressed with his side's effort in sapping humidity.

"Overall to get to that particular lead I thought we played pretty clinical, not perfect, but good enough considering the conditions," he said.

Stone had particular praise for halfback Jarrod Mullen in the absence of injured skipper Gidley.

"I think he handled things particularly well, kicked well, controlled our game," he said.

"Probably getting to 34-6, our execution was okay and a lot of things we planned to do definitely helped us."

Mullen impressed despite an injured sternum but hoped it would settle down during the week.

"It's (sternum) pretty sore," he said.

"It was alright the first half but when I cooled down a bit at half time it got gradually worse and by the end of it I couldn't really breath properly."

Cowboys coach Neil Henry was "shattered" and lamented his side's lack of discipline holding the ball.

"It's a pretty bitter pill," Henry said.

"They certainly played well but I suppose 65 per cent possession in the first half and an extra 70 tackles...I certainly thought we were in with a show here if we can control the ball."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP