Cowboys deny Broncos perfect revenge in finals thriller

Adam Blair of the Broncos. Photo / Getty Images.

Johnathan Thurston, take a bow.

The Cowboys captain denied the Broncos the perfect finals revenge in a blazing second half fightback which led the two sides to another fabled golden point time ending in a thrilling Cowboys win.

The match began terribly for the Cowboys, gifting the Broncos easy points and striking sorrow in the hearts of fans wanting to see their side through to a second straight Grand Final.

The Cowboys fought back doggedly to give fans a sniff at victory mid-way through the second half, but a runaway try by Corey Oates in the 70th minute put those hopes to bed.

Matt Gillett had a horrible lapse in judgement and tripped Thurston up in the 79th minute which was all the Cowboys halfback needed to even the score to 20-20 and put the biggest Queensland rivalry in the NRL into extra time.

All eyes were on Thurston pulling off another killer drop-goal to finish the game until a misplaced pass gave possession back to Brisbane who capitalised on the blunder and fired up towards the halfway line.

A critical error from the Broncos saw the Cowboys regain possession off the scrum-feed - and the rest was history.

Thurston threaded the back line through to the tryline in classic style and then hooped the conversion kick over to bring the score to 26-20 in extra time.

Thurston's late-game performance was summed-up epically by Phil Gould saying: "Cometh the hour, cometh the champion."

COOTE BLUNDER

Last year it was Ben Hunt - this time it was Lachlan Coote.

The Cowboys star had an absolute shocker in Friday night's finals clash against the Broncos.

The 26-year-old seemingly had soap on his hands for the first half, dropping the ball numerous times in clutch positions.

A fumbled pass which he dropped dead at the feet of Kahu was all the Broncos needed to take the lead over the Cowboys in the first half.

His performance struck fear in the Cowboys camp and almost dashed hopes of a victory upon the completion of the second half.

The blunder brought on a tirade of social media ribbing from dumbfounded fans.

Some questioned if he was the Broncos' best player on the night after giving them much-needed points, while others went as far as saying it was the worst performance they'd ever seen from a rugby league player.

Despite early blunders, the Cowboys once again proved why they're one of the league's best sides with a stunning fightback which sees the Broncos - and legendary captain Corey Parker - bow out of the 2016 season.