The North Queensland Cowboys have pulled off one of the upsets of the NRL season, downing title heavyweights the Bulldogs 30-22 in their qualifying final at Telstra Stadium on Saturday night.

The Cowboys were playing in the finals for the first time in their 10-year history.

After finishing the regular season in seventh place, they would have been knocked out if they had lost.

Instead North Queensland has damaged the pride of the Bulldogs, who finished second in the regular season.

The result also eliminated St George Illawarra from the finals as the Dragons will be one of the two lowest-ranked losers.

The Dragons, tipped as grand final dark horses, drop out of the title hunt after losing to Penrith 31-30 on Friday night.

North Queensland is in line to play Brisbane in a semifinal next weekend - as long as minor premiers the Sydney Roosters can beat Canberra.

The Broncos look set to move through to the next round of finals despite losing 31-14 to Melbourne at Brisbane.

The Cowboys led 18-6 at halftime after Bulldogs skipper Steve Price was sin-binned and held out a second half comeback with Matt Sing's third try in the 78th minute.

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