They packed Leichhardt Oval to see the return of Benji Marshall and Brett Hodgson but it was Robbie Farah who stole the show as the Wests Tigers thumped a hapless North Queensland to the tune of 54-10.

Returned to his rightful No.9 jumper, Farah tortured and teased the Cowboys defence as he scored one four-pointer and set up a handful of others in a performance Tigers coach Tim Sheens refused to rate too highly for fear of giving his star hooker a big head.

"He got a bit greedy at times - he was trying to win his Dally M award a little early there today with a couple of kicks and things," Sheens said.

"But he contributed greatly, there's no doubt he was good."

Good would be an understatement as the Tigers moved back into the top eight with the win while the Cowboys - who began the weekend in fourth spot - slumped to eighth with their third straight loss.

Farah refused to take too much of the credit but admitted he enjoyed being back at dummy half, describing the display as his best since the Tigers won the premiership in 2005.

"The boys made my job easier," Farah said.

"I was more comfortable there but it's hard when your pack gets dominated because you haven't got time to do too much, but when my pack's moving forward like that (it's easier)."

Despite the lopsided scoreline, Sheens refused to get carried away.

"Let's be realistic - the Cowboys were well underdone ... (Johnathan) Thurston obviously played injured so we're not kidding ourselves," he said.

"When we had their backs to the wall we finished them off - but it's a long way from beating Melbourne in Melbourne or something like that."

The game was anyone's at halftime after Hodgson had celebrated his 200th NRL game with a try just before the break for a 14-4 lead, but the Tigers put their foot on the accelerator after the restart as they completed a ten tries to two rout.

It was the Wests Tigers at their free running best - Chris Heighington running through outsized fullback Matt Bowen in the 45th minute to get the ball rolling.

Farah then carved them up again, a John Te'o flick pass sending his hooker on a long run down the sideline before he found Daniel Fitzhenry for a 28-4 lead.

Matt Bartlett stemmed the flow ever so briefly when he went over adjacent to the posts but the home side turned the game into a track meet with four tries in the final 13 minutes including a double to Bronson Harrison.

"You've got to be fair - we're down in the dumps a little bit and I think they played at the top of their game tonight," Cowboys coach Graham Murray said.

"You can't deny how good they played and we're just not on the mark at the moment."

Thurston was taken off early but denied it was due to a shoulder injury, Murray claiming it was just a precaution once the result was known.

The one sour note for the home side was a corked knee which forced Hodgson from the field midway through the second half.

Marshall showed the rustiness of three months on the sideline with an injured shoulder but claimed he was happy to get out of the game unscathed.

"I didn't want to expect too much from myself," Marshall said.

"But I think I played better today than I did at the start of the season for the whole eight games that I played so I'll just work on that."

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