North Queensland Cowboys winger Ash Graham may have scored two tries in his 100th NRL game but he would gladly trade them in for two points and an error-free match.

Graham's two tries in the dying minutes brought some respectability to the Cowboys 34-22 loss against the Newcastle Knights in Townsville on Saturday night, but defensive lapses and spilt balls cost the North Queensland side dearly.

"It (two tries) doesn't really make losing that much easier," Graham said.

"Obviously turning the ball over, particularly in our own end really put us under too much pressure and we couldn't defend it."

The Cowboys controlled 65 per cent of possession in the first half and had 70 more tackles, but coach Neil Henry lamented his side's inability to complete sets.

"It's something when you train you need to make sure you're getting it right and we need to work along those lines, but today we just weren't in it in the first half," Henry said.

He said defensive lapses, especially in one on one situations, was also a concern.

"I thought they stepped through a few of us with some line breaks early in the game and they (the players) were just one on one, going a bit low and getting bumped off and they're through the line and behind us," he said.

"We scrambled quite well on a couple of occasions and when we're on song with our defence we handled what they threw at us but again a lot of defensive plays in the first half took their toll on the team."

Henry said this performance wasn't a return to the Cowboys of past seasons, who were coming off the highs of a win against Brisbane in the opening round.

"It goes from week to week. Last week it was here we come and this week it's here we go. We need to make sure we're getting some results," he said.

Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston said the kicking game of stand-in Knights skipper Jarrod Mullen was the difference.

Mullen, who will be hoping to shrug off a sternum injury before next week's match against Manly, kicked two 40/20s and set up the Knights' opening try.

"We've certainly been brought back down to earth but their kicking game was superior to ours and that's probably what the difference was," Thurston said.

"We just kept defending in the second half and they just kept on getting points."

Thurston said their three unanswered tries at the death proved the Cowboys could be an attacking force.

"When we started getting a bit of possession we started scoring some points. That's a lesson for us. When we can hold the ball we score points," he said.

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