Canberra welcomed back its inspirational five-eighth Jason Smith and returned to the winner's circle with a 23-22 win over North Queensland in thrilling match played in icy conditions at Canberra Stadium.

Smith, who has missed three games with a knee injury, kicked the winning field goal with seven minutes to go to give Canberra its first win after five straight losses.

The North Queenslanders suffered in the icy, foggy and sleet-like conditions, letting slip a 12-0 lead in the 12th minute as the Raiders piled on four unanswered tries before the half time break.

But the visitors responded in the 72nd minute to level the scores in a nail-biting match that was marked by its slips and spills.

Smith put his side ahead in the 73rd minute while Cowboys halfback Johnathan Thurston's attempt at field goal on the fulltime siren just failed to hit the mark.

Cowboys fullback Matt Bowen took just seconds to post the first try of the night off an early penalty and made it two tries within 12 minutes when he collected the ball off halfback Johnathan Thurston and burst through the Raiders' defence to score his double.

As the sleet began to fall, Canberra started its comeback and got its first points on the board off the back of a penalty when halfback Lincoln Withers forced his way through the Cowboys defence to touch down.

Cowboys winger Matt Sing was unlucky not to put another four points on the board for North Queensland when a Raiders' ball bounced off him and he beat Canberra winger Michael Robertson to it.

But video referee Steve Nash ruled Sing failed to ground the ball when he eventually put it over the Raiders' line.

Smith scored Canberra's second try of the night when he kicked the ball for himself to score in the 27th minute.

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