Kalyn Ponga has made his much-anticipated return from concussion, but it was not enough to inspire Newcastle to victory against North Queensland, who won 18-16 in Townsville.
In Saturday's earlier match, Nicho Hynes further enhanced his NSW State of Origin claims, playing a starring role as Cronulla cruised to a 33-20 win over Canterbury at Stadium Australia.
In Queensland's north, Ponga – playing his 100th NRL match — made a solid contribution from the interchange bench after missing five matches due to concussion.
But the Knights fell short, with Scott Drinkwater having two tries assists and Valentine Holmes producing his best performance so far this season as the Cowboys snapped a three-match losing streak.
Trailing 16-12 after Newcastle scored two second-half tries through Dominic Young and Lachlan Fitzgibbon when Murray Taulagi was sin-binned for a late shot on Dane Gagai, Holmes stepped up to put the hosts ahead before a frantic finish.
The Queensland and Australia representative shaped left and beat two defenders before passing inside to Tom Dearden in the 64th minute, with his contentious pass cleared by referee Ben Cummins and a sideline official.
Holmes converted and the Cowboys led by two points before the Knights threw absolutely everything at the home side.
With the clock inside two minutes, the Knights found themselves deep inside the Cowboys' half, but some desperate and last-ditch goal-line defence thwarted the chance at a first win in Townsville since 2015.
Holmes and fellow Queensland centre Gagai for Newcastle were the standouts in an error-strewn match that saw the Cowboy finishing with 209 run metres, three tackle breaks and a try assist.
Gagai was immense for the Knights and led the match with 221 run metres and 12 tackle breaks.
The Knights' 14 errors led to just 67 per cent completion for the match and allowed the Cowboys plenty of opportunities in a must-win match with their season hanging in the balance.
And they relied on Drinkwater to fire them out the blocks, assisting in two opening-half tries.
Reece Robson, who leads the NRL in runs from dummy half, darted out from the ruck in the ninth minute and found his fullback, who dummied through the line before passing inside to Robson for the opener.
Dearden dropped the ensuing restart kick and Newcastle pounced through Greg Marzhew following a through-the-hands play to their left edge.
The match settled briefly as Jackson Hastings's and Chad Townsend's kicking games kept both sides pinned inside their own halves.
It took a fortuitous six again for the Cowboys to break the 6-6 deadlock deep in Knights territory and it was Drinkwater again on the fifth tackle who shifted right to Kyle Feldt for a one-handed diving put-down.
Newcastle's eight errors allowed a free flowing and relaxed Cowboys attack threaten both edges.
But the Knights settled and remained resolute in the final 15 minutes before the main break, coinciding with Kalyn Ponga's introduction to the match.
Hynes guides Sharks to victory
The dominant team for most of the match, the Sharks were never really challenged, despite the Bulldogs pegging the margin back to four points at half-time.
Will Kennedy scored a hat-trick for Cronulla within the first 23 minutes, while Hynes had a role in three tries as the Sharks' right edge always looked threatening.
Hynes is locked in a battle with Jarome Luai for the NSW number six jersey, while he could also act as a bench utility for the Blues.
And after four matches back from a calf injury, he again did his chances no harm against a lacklustre Bulldogs defensive effort.
The win marked the Sharks' first-back-to-back victories in 2023 and lifted them inside the top four.
For Canterbury, Matt Burton's shift to halfback failed to have the impact the Bulldogs desired, with the former Panther only laying on a late try for Corey Waddell.
Severely down on troops, the lowly placed Bulldogs' lack of inexperience on the edges showed.
And Hynes was the man to expose them.
The Cronulla halfback's combination with second-rower Briton Nikora continues to prove beneficial, with the edge forward breaking the line twice.
The pair combined for the Sharks' first try, when Hynes put Nikora through a gap and Kennedy loomed up on the inside to finish the job.
Kennedy then took control of the match for the Sharks, claiming his second when he leapt high to take a Matt Moylan bomb before dummying his way over for another try on the left.
At that point, the score was 18-8 inside 23 minutes, and it appeared as if Cronulla could run away with the match.
Canterbury did well to reduce the margin before half-time through a Declan Casey try, but when Cronulla exploded out of blocks after the breaks the match was effectively over.
With their first set of the second half, the Sharks stamped their authority when Hynes put up a cross-field kick and Ronaldo Mulitalo batted it back for Moylan to score.
Hynes and Moylan were involved again in the Sharks' next, when the halves duo created the space for Sione Katoa to go over untouched on the right wing.
And while the Bulldogs offered some faint hope after Waddell's try with 13 minutes left, any momentum they had was killed off by a Reed Mahoney error out of dummy half.
Instead, it was again Hynes who finished the job when a field goal shot bounced in off the posts, proving almost everything last year's Dally M medallist is touching this year continues to turn to gold.
AAP
