Neil Henry's youth policy paid off for the North Queensland as his new-look side defeated Gold Coast Titans 32-18 in Saturday's NRL clash at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

The Cowboys mentor made four changes to his side after an indifferent start to the 2010 season, with experienced campaigners Steve Southern, Grant Rovelli and Carl Webb omitted along with Michael Bani while Ty Williams was a late scratching with ankle and biceps complaints.

Centre Will Tupou, prop Leeson Ah Mau and fullback Shannon Gallant all made their debuts for the Cowboys while Ray Thompson played just his second NRL fixture.

The Gold Coast had their own concerns, with representative playmaker Scott Prince (thumb) not making the trip and former international Anthony Laffranchi ruled out late with a lower back injury.

After failing to score a try in the first half in any of their games this season, the Cowboys broke the shackles early and scored three tries in the opening exchanges to set up a commanding lead.

Willie Tonga scored two on his way to a hat-trick, while 20-year-old five-eighth Thompson lived up to his hype with a sweet flick pass to Luke O'Donnell who dragged three defenders over the line.

The Titans struck first through Mark Minichiello, who waltzed through some soft defence, and a tearaway Joseph Tomane would have scored if not for a desperate ankle tap from Cowboys skipper Johnathan Thurston.

Ash Graham was denied by video referee Chris Ward in the 54th minute when his elbow hit the sideline a fraction before he grounded the ball but Tonga put the game beyond doubt in the next set, scoring his third of the night following a Minichiello knock-on.

Ward was called into action again in the 69th minute when Minichiello crossed for his second, the crowd screaming for a knock-on from Preston Campbell in the lead-up with his fumble ruled to have gone backwards.

Thurston rubber-stamped his good form in the 73rd-minute when he scooted past Tomane to score under the sticks while some desperate last-ditch defence from John Williams and Tonga prevented a David Mead four-pointer with five minutes left on the clock.

Titans skipper Luke Bailey refused to blame the loss on the absence of Prince, instead pointing to the error count as the reason.

"To be honest I think you could have put God in the No.7 out there tonight and we still would have lost," he said.

"We crucified ourselves with so much dropped ball, we didn't give ourselves a chance."

Cowboys coach Neil Henry was relieved his side broke the cycle of slow starts which has been critical in securing just one win and two losses before this clash.

"It was a long time coming, three weeks is a long time in footy," he said.

"It was good to get out to a bit of a lead and score some points.

"(And) I was very happy with all the boys on debut."

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