North Queensland's Johnathan Thurston kicked a field goal in golden point extra time to give the Cowboys a thrilling 17-16 win over the Brisbane Broncos in the Australian National Rugby League grand final Sunday.

Thurston, who minutes earlier missed a sideline conversion that would have given the Cowboys a win in regulation time, calmly slotted the drop goal to give North Queensland their first ever win in the NRL.

In a match played in front of more than 82,000 fans in Sydney, the two Queensland teams put on a brilliant display, combining magnificent attack with some bruising defence for over 80 pulsating minutes.

The two evenly matched teams met two weeks ago in a semi-final which Brisbane won 16-12, and with seconds remaining it looked like they would win by the same margin.

But the Cowboys threw one last desperate attack at the Broncos and winger Kyle Feldt took a miraculous pass from Michael Morgan to touch down in the corner.

Thurston couldn't convert, but when Broncos five-eighth Ben Hunt dropped the ball on his own line from the kick off, the Cowboys were in perfect position for the field goal and this time Thurston made no mistake.

"I'm so proud of the boys and the effort they showed against such quality opposition," Cowboys captain Matt Scott said.

"We were just able to stick with it and stick with it."

Scott said once the match went into extra time he was confident of winning.

"I could feel we were getting on top them and the longer the game went on the better we got."

Brisbane made the better start to the final and opened the scoring thanks to a Corey Parker penalty in the sixth minute.

But more was to come straight from the restart when Broncos winger Corey Oates raced 80 metres to score after a break from the outstanding Anthony Milford.

Parker converted to make it 8-0, but the Cowboys hit straight back when Justin O'Neill crashed over next to the posts.

In a free flowing opening to the match both sides had a number of chances but North Queensland finally took advantage of good field position when front rower James Tamou barged over to give the Cowboys the lead for the first time.

Thurston's conversion made it 12-8 with 15 minutes of the first half remaining.

But just eight minutes later Brisbane were in front again when Thurston lost the ball 30 metres out and Michael Gillett crashed through some poor defence to put centre Jack Reed over.

Jordan Kahu converted to make it 14-12 at the break and then made it 16-12 two minutes after the restart with a penalty.

North Queensland threw everything at the Broncos during the second half but Brisbane held firm with some superb defence to keep the rampant Cowboys at bay.

They heavily marked key playmaker Thurston and the Cowboys looked short of ideas without his input.

But with seconds left on the clock Cowboys halfback Morgan found some space out wide and slipped a brilliant one handed pass to Feldt, who touched down in the corner and tied the match up at 16-16.

Thurston needed to convert from the sideline to win the match, but his kick hit the upright and the match went into extra time.

However, it only took a minute of extra time for Thurston to make amends and create history for the side from Townsville.

Source: AFP