Sydney Roosters 31–30 North Queensland Cowboys — Semi-Final, 2014 NRL Finals Series
19 Sep 2014 · Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 18,355
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Semi-Final, 2014 NRL finals series: Sydney Roosters 31–30 North Queensland Cowboys, at Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 19 Sep 2014.
Sourcing caveat: Try-scoring minutes and the referee roster reconcile exactly against the final scoreline but were not independently cross-checked against an official NRL match centre stat sheet. No official player-of-the-match award could be confirmed for this fixture.
Scoring timeline
| 16′ | Sydney Roosters — try, Tupou |
| 20′ | Sydney Roosters — try, Jennings |
| 26′ | Sydney Roosters — try, Tupou |
| 30′ | Sydney Roosters — try, Maloney |
| 39′ | North Queensland Cowboys — try, Lowe |
| 40′ | North Queensland Cowboys — try, Cooper |
| 43′ | North Queensland Cowboys — try, Thurston |
| 57′ | North Queensland Cowboys — try, Lui |
| 60′ | North Queensland Cowboys — try, Scott |
Tries with a sourced minute, in order scored, with the conversion kicked/missed alongside each one where source data lets us match a kicker to that specific try. Tries whose exact minute isn't recorded in available sources appear in the Scorers table below but not here; goal tallies we can't attribute to one specific try are shown as descriptive text in Scorers rather than guessed into this timeline.
Scorers
| Sydney Roosters | Tries: Pearce 3' (90m intercept); Tupou 16'; Jennings 20'; Tupou 26'; Maloney 30' Goals: Maloney (5/6 conversions); Maloney — field goal 76' |
| North Queensland Cowboys | Tries: Lowe 39'; Cooper 40'; Thurston 43'; Lui 57'; Scott 60' Goals: Thurston (5/5 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Sydney Roosters | North Queensland Cowboys | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Minichiello | Fullback | Michael Morgan | 1 |
| 2 | Daniel Tupou | Wing | Kyle Feldt | 2 |
| 3 | Michael Jennings | Centre | Tautau Moga | 3 |
| 4 | Shaun Kenny-Dowall | Centre | Kane Linnett | 4 |
| 5 | Roger Tuivasa-Sheck | Wing | Antonio Winterstein | 5 |
| 6 | James Maloney | Five-Eighth | Robert Lui | 6 |
| 7 | Mitchell Pearce | Halfback | Johnathan Thurston | 7 |
| 8 | Jared Waerea-Hargreaves | Prop | Matthew Scott | 8 |
| 9 | Jake Friend | Hooker | Rory Kostjasyn | 9 |
| 10 | Sam Moa | Prop | Ashton Sims | 10 |
| 11 | Boyd Cordner | Second-Row | Gavin Cooper | 11 |
| 12 | Sonny Bill Williams | Second-Row | James Tamou | 17 |
| 13 | Aidan Guerra | Lock | Jason Taumalolo | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Mitchell Aubusson | Glenn Hall | 12 | |
| 15 | Frank-Paul Nu'uausala | Ray Thompson | 14 | |
| 16 | Isaac Liu | Scott Bolton | 15 | |
| 17 | Remi Casty | Ethan Lowe | 16 | |
| Trent Robinson | Coach | Paul Green | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Shayne Hayne and Gavin Badger (two-referee system) |
Match report
In a finals classic at Allianz Stadium, the Roosters produced one of the great opening bursts in NRL history, racing to a 30-0 lead inside 30 minutes — Mitchell Pearce opened the scoring with a 90-metre intercept try, before Daniel Tupou (twice), Michael Jennings and James Maloney crossed to put the game seemingly beyond doubt. North Queensland, inspired by Johnathan Thurston, then produced arguably the greatest comeback in finals football, scoring three unanswered tries after halftime through Ethan Lowe, Gavin Cooper and Thurston himself, before further tries to Robert Lui and Matt Scott levelled the scores at 30-all. James Maloney restored the Roosters' lead with a clutch field goal in the 76th minute. In the final minute, Thurston appeared to complete an extraordinary levelling try, but the video referees ruled it out for an offload that grazed a hand and constituted a knock-on, sealing a dramatic 31-30 Roosters victory.