League: Cowboys hand Roosters wooden spoon

Roosters fullback Sam Perett is tackled by the Cowboys in their clash at Sydney Football Stadium. Photo / Getty Images

North Queensland handed the Sydney Roosters the NRL wooden spoon as they spoiled Craig Fitzgibbon's farewell with an amazing 32-16 win at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday.

Down 16-0 just two minutes before the break, the Cowboys piled on 32 unanswered points to save Cronulla from the wooden spoon and consign the Roosters to last place on a ladder in a year to forget on and off the field for the Bondi Junction club.

The visitors were led by a other superb performance from skipper Johnathan Thurston, the Test No 7 doing his best to put himself back in the reckoning for the Dally M player of the year award which had seemed destined to be heading Jarryd Hayne's way.

Thurston took it upon himself to drag the Cowboys back into the contest after he took advantage of a quick tap to score under the posts just before halftime.

But it was after the break that the Cowboys really turned it on with Ashley Graham and Ty Williams scoring inside the opening six minutes to hand the visitors an improbable lead.

The Roosters tried hard to get back in the contest as they looked to do it for Fitzgibbon, the former Test forward heading to Super League club Hull in 2010 after a stellar NRL career.

Their spirit was broken when Thurston sent Shane Tronc over from short range, the Cowboys scoring two more tries in the final eight minutes to complete the carnage.

Fitzgibbon's day looked like it was going to go to script when Shaun Kenny-Dowall went over in the second minute, with the Cowboys' determination leaving a lot to be desired after Ben Jones almost went the length of the field from the kick-off.

Fitzgibbon slotted the conversion from the sideline and gave the small crowd on hand a salute, and he was soon lining up another from out wide when Iwi Hauraki pounced on a Mitchell Pearce grubber.

The man of the moment did his best to even the contest when he gave Pearce a bloody nose courtesy of some friendly fire, Pearce shaking it off to nail a 40-20 just minutes later.

The Roosters weren't able to capitalise on that opportunity but they did when Pearce put Mitch Aubusson into space, Willie Mason backing up to score with his first touch despite protests from Thurston that Mason had tripped him in the lead-up.

- AAP dg