Brisbane coach Kevin Walters says his men must "respect the punch in the face" after North Queensland inflicted their biggest win over their NRL rivals in 16 years.
Jeremiah Nanai announced his arrival with a hat-trick while Valentine Holmes was brilliant as North Queensland trounced Brisbane 38-12 at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
Backrower Nanai, 19, plucked two Tom Dearden bombs from the air and ran onto a Chad Townsend grubberkick, emerging as the unlikely hero in his seventh NRL game.
Playing against his old club for the first time in front of a heaving crowd of 37,761, Dearden was dominant in the halves alongside impressive recruit Townsend.
They turned Adam Reynolds' first home game as a Bronco into one to forget, the halfback twice kicking out on the full in a sequence that led to a brilliant Holmes try.
Holmes was in frightening form lining up against a quiet Kotoni Staggs in the centres, a clean break in the first half and acrobatic finish in the second turning heads.
He was also perfect off the tee, nailing six-from-six conversions from tight angles.
"We were in the game at different stages, but over the full 80 (minutes) they were better than us," Walters said.
"Every little thing that we tried didn't come off for us.
"We got punched in the face today. We've got to respect that punch and get our dukes up ready for next week."
Playing each other on a Sunday for the first time since the 2015 grand final, Brisbane matched the Cowboys' intensity early.
A contentious penalty try to Herbie Farnworth, held back by Kyle Feldt after grubber-kicking a ball into the in-goal area, made it 8-6 to the visitors approaching halftime.
Cowboys coach Todd Payten questioned the legality of the try post-match but was pleased it mattered little as his men worked up the gears and the hosts were unable to keep pace.
Prop Jason Taumalolo turned playmaker for the key moment, his short pass putting fellow forward Griffin Neame through a gap for his first NRL try.
A 14-6 halftime lead grew when Holmes dived over in the corner, before Nanai plucked his second and third try.
Dearden then iced the cake with a soft try out of dummy-half against his former team before Farnworth benefited from a fortunate bounce to grab his second try with three minutes to play.
The Cowboys had lost Coen Hess (shoulder) early in the contest, while Broncos backrower Jordan Riki (ribs) was also a casualty and hooker Jake Turpin was reported for a high tackle.
Victory followed a 26-6 shutdown of Canberra last week, while Todd Payten's side lost 6-4 to the Bulldogs in round one in a nod to the Cowboys' improved defence.
"Probably our best performance, most complete performance (since taking over last year)," Payten said.
"We played tough, defended our way out of trouble in the first half ... and that was the game."
