South Sydney lost two of their biggest stars before kick-off, but all that mattered was that halfback Chris Sandow remained standing to deliver the Rabbitohs a miraculous 26-24 golden-point win over North Queensland on Friday night.

In the dramatic final moments at ANZ Stadium, Souths hooker Issac Luke stayed down after being hit high by Cowboys replacement hooker James Segeyaro.

The referees hadn't seen the incident but after watching replays, video ref Sean Hampstead sent the message down that Segeyaro should be put on report and penalised - allowing Sandow to kick the Rabbitohs home from 30 metres out, straight in front and keep their finals hopes alive.

It looked like time would beat the Rabbitohs as they trailed 24-18 heading into the final two minutes, before magical halfback Sandow latched onto an intercept off a Johnathan Thurston pass and raced 80 metres.

He was chased down by Matt Bowen and eventually tackled by Ray Thompson, but the Rabbitohs stayed calm and spread the ball to the far left where big Dave Taylor sent Chris McQueen over in the corner, to make it a two-point match.

Despite being heavily fatigued from his intercept dash, Sandow calmly stepped up to slot the conversion from the sideline and send the match into golden point extra time.

Sandow, who is leaving the club at season's end, almost went from hero to villain when a poor kick in the opening set of overtime gave the Cowboys the first real chance - only for Bowen to cannon his attempt into the right upright.

From the next set the Rabbitohs charged up the field to get themselves into field goal range, before Segeyaro was cruelly pulled up for a high shot that Cowboys' halfback Johnathan Thurston yelled at the referee was "a f***ing love tap."

After nine tries in three matches, it seemed no opposition could stop South Sydney star Nathan Merritt, but the dynamic fullback was dramatically brought undone in the warm-up, while Test and Origin game-breaker Greg Inglis was also a late scratching.

Tries to Bowen and Willie Tonga in the second half which broke a 12-12 halftime deadlock, looked as though it would be enough to strengthen their chances for a top four finish and home final, but Sandow somehow made the impossible happen.

Inglis' name was officially taken off the team sheet an hour before play, when he failed a concussion test after copping a head-knock in last week's win over Canberra.

But the worst news was yet to come when try-scoring wizard Merritt strained his quad in warm-up and was withdrawn moments before the teams took the field.

North Queensland coach Neil Henry and captain Thurston were seething post-match, accusing Souths hooker Luke of deliberately staying down to draw the penalty.

Henry was filthy about the overall performance of the referees and said common sense should have been shown by Hampstead.

"I'll ask the whole press box to see if it was a penalty, to decide the game on an arm that came off the ball and tapped a chin on a man who decided to stay down," Henry said.

"It was an unfair way to end the game in our opinion.

"You could find another 10 examples of that where it didn't warrant a penalty.

"That's a vital two points in a season where we're trying to stay in the top four, we can go from fourth to seventh."

Thurston said he would never take a dive if ever in the same situation.

"I don't play like that mate, and neither do any of our boys," he said.

"To decide a game on that ... are you serious?"

Segeyaro visited the Souths sheds after the match but refused to comment to the media.

Souths coach John Lang said the incident warranted a penalty every time and described the victory as one of the gutsiest he's been associated with.

Lang said Merritt would likely miss next week's trip to Brisbane, while Inglis should be right and John Sutton (hand) will require scans on Saturday.

"I've been in the game a long time and with our season on the line and to be down like that ... we had plenty of excuses if we wanted to look for them," said Lang, whose Rabbitohs will stay locked with Newcastle on 26 competition points if the Knights lose to Brisbane on Monday.

"If the boys had dropped their bundle at all we were gone, and I think it's a great tribute to their team spirit that they come back and won the game."

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