Hunt returns to his best in Dragons win over Cowboys

The much-maligned 30-year-old showed promising signs against Cronulla in round one, but Saturday's outing was undoubtedly his best performance in more than a season.

Hunt laid on tries for Mikaele Ravalawa and Zac Lomax and scored himself from close range in what was the decisive performance in an otherwise error-riddled, if entertaining, match.

Corey Norman's showing after controversially missing round one was also promising, a try-saver on Cowboys back-rower Mitch Dunn as important as his field goal on the stroke of halftime for a seven-point lead.

The overall performance wasn't Norman at his best but it was arguably superior to anything he produced in 2020 as his side notched its first win of the season.

Hunt said the pair followed a strict directive from coach Anthony Griffin to take the line on in steamy conditions in Townsville.

"Hook really challenged me and Corey to take the game on tonight," Hunt told Fox Sports.

"We knew if we kept the ball in play their forwards would get pretty tired. We wanted to take them on around the middle and I think Corey was really good tonight and Matt Dufty had a couple of runs around the middle there. That was the plan.

"Hook's put a lot of confidence in myself and Corey and really backed us to lead this team around. We had a really big preseason and we knew we weren't going to hit the ground running completely clean but if we could keep building and building [we knew] it'd work for us. Tonight was another good step."

It looked dire early on, with the Dragons conceding the first try and coughing up the ball cold in their opening two sets of the game. They could've trailed 12-0 had Norman not combined with Matt Dufty to deny Dunn inside the opening 10 minutes.

The visitors made most of the running for the remainder of the first half and produced tries in their only two journeys into Cowboys territory in the second before ultimately tackling their way to victory.

Both sides still have plenty to do to change widely-held opinions that they're destined for a bottom-four finish, but there was plenty for Griffin to like about the win.

The Cowboys scored first through Cohen Hess, who snapped a Jake Clifford kick out of the air for the first try four minutes in.

It followed an error from Paul Vaughan that handed the hosts possession 30 metres out from the Dragons line.

Blake Lawrie did the same in the Dragons next set, dodging a bullet in denying Dunn, before error from Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow at the other end gave the Dragons the chance to hit back.

They did so through Ravalawa, who produced a strong finish off a lofted ball from Hunt. Lomax nailed the sideline conversion to square the ledger at six apiece with 12 minutes gone.

They looked certain the level two sets later after a break from Cody Ramsey only for Dufty's lofted ball to sail into the grandstand, but there was simply no stopping Josh Kerr from close range 13 minutes before the break.

Lomax added the extras for a 12-6 lead and they looked to have extended their lead when Ramsey crossed off a long ball from Norman that was subsequently called forward.

Norman shrugged it off to nail field goal on the stroke of halftime for a seven-point cushion at the break, the bonus that would prove crucial down the stretch.

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Valentine Holmes crossed for his side's second try seven minutes into the second stanza, but Hunt hit back six minutes later when he split Cowboys defenders from close range to re-take a seven-point lead with Lomax's conversion.

It was short-lived, with Kerr spilling the ball in the very next set and opening the door for Jake Granville to burrow across and draw his side back within one.

The trend continued, with Josh McGuire spilling ball under pressure from Tyrell Fuimaono and gifting the Dragons field position for the hit back.

It came in the form a perfectly weighted kick from Hunt for Lomax to pluck out of the air for his side's fourth try. He added the extras to again push the margin out to seven.

It proved enough, with the Dragons absorbing a mountain of late pressure to hold on and secure their first win of the season.