Some sage words from Queensland centre Willie Tonga gave North Queensland hero Will Tupou the confidence he needed to win Saturday night's NRL golden point thriller against Newcastle.

But the winger - whose brilliant solo try sealed the Cowboys' 28-24 win over the Knights - revealed after the match he had toyed with the idea of giving up on the game in 2009.

The ex-Brisbane youngster was left shattered in the dying stages of the 80 minutes when his fumbled intercept attempt allowed the Knights to level the scores and force the extra period.

"I kind of let the boys down, I was really disappointed," Tupou said.

"I had the opportunity to catch the ball and I actually dropped it."

At that point Tonga took the 20-year-old flyer aside and gave him the rev-up he needed to bash, barge, step and dazzle his way along the sideline, scoring the best try of his burgeoning career and sealing the Cowboys' win.

"Playing outside of Tonga sort of gave me the boost up, he talked me up and I started smiling," Tupou said.

"What can you do? The heads (goes) up and you continue."

Tupou was signed by the Cowboys in the pre-season after his confidence dropped to an all-time low while on Brisbane's books.

Earmarked for a certain NRL debut in 2009 following his heroics in the 2008 NYC grand final, a pre-season game against the Gold Coast saw his shoulder wrecked and the entire year pulled away from him.

Were it not for his young wife Jasmine and the words of his family, Tupou could have been working nine-to-five last week instead of entertaining on the big stage on Saturday night.

"I'm lucky that I stayed in league, when I had my injury I was going to give up," he said.

"I've played NRL now so that's actually a dream come true.

"I'm married at the moment, I'm lucky that I've got my wife that's supporting me and I've got my family as well.

"Without my family I wouldn't be out here.

"I wasn't sure what I was going to do, all I knew was I didn't want to play footy at all.

"I'm lucky to be playing."

The last gasp try was not the only heroics Tupou pulled off in Townsville on Saturday, with the rising winger playing easily his best NRL game in his 10 appearances for North Queensland so far this year.

That has coach Neil Henry confident he has found a player of the future at the Cowboys.

"I think he's certainly got a big future ahead of him," Henry said.

"I thought he made a couple of big defensive plays.

"He came off his wing a couple of times and shut them down a couple of times, he's dangerous carrying the ball in yardage.

"Then he showed in that last play of the night what he can do, he's quite elusive."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP