Brisbane have secured a dominant 37-18 win over North Queensland, registering just their fifth win of the 2021 NRL season.
Coach Kevin Walters was looking for a more polished performance from his side that fell just short against Penrith last week, and the Broncos brought the sting to their Queensland rivals early in the contest.
Payne Haas and Jordan Riki sucked in the Cowboys' middle forwards to great effect, allowing the home side to use their right edge as their go-to attacking weapon on the night.
Haas finished with 172 running metres, while Riki had 89 of his own with four tackle busts, two linebreaks and the final try of the night.
Young playmaker Tyson Gamble had his best performance of the year, finishing with three try assists and directing the Broncos to their highest points tally of the season.
The Broncos took their largest lead since round one into the halftime break, ahead 22-10 after an exhilarating opening stanza.
In a six-try opening half, the Queensland derby played to its familiar tune with both sides throwing caution to the wind in the opening 20 minutes.
The Broncos led 10-0 after 15 minutes, Riki's barnstorming run laying the platform for Jamayne Isaako to score before Isaako broke free again minutes later, his grubber eventually getting to Kobe Hetherington who set up skipper Alex Glenn.
The Cowboys then went to work with their left edge, and 32-year-old Jake Granville, in his second consecutive game at fullback, sold a dummy before crashing over to bring the deficit back to six.
But tries to Kotoni Staggs and Brodie Croft still had the Broncos with a clear edge, despite the Cowboys' Tom Dearden touching down in his first game against his former club.
Kyle Feldt had the Cowboys back to within 10 points midway through the second half but it wasn't enough as the Broncos kicked on to level the derby ledger with a comfortable home win.