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It's official. There are now three certainties in life. Death, taxes and the Broncos and Cowboys frightening the life out of sports fans with the quality and intensity of their rivalry.
We may all be left on the floor, but no one could really be surprised at the way things turned out at Lang Park as Brisbane and North Queensland went beyond the 80 minutes for the fourth time in five games, before the Cowboys prevailed, 21-20.
With both sides out on their feet, with no quarter given and hardly a pause for breath in the whole, ridiculous game, it came down to that man again.
Johnathan Thurston — who had missed a chance early in golden point — made amends with a field goal from just inside 30 metres out to clinch the win for North Queensland.
So what did we learn from this crazy, if totally expected masterpiece of an NRL game?
New stars shine in crunch game
It wasn't just the usual suspects who stood out as Lang Park buzzed with excitement and frustration.
For example, Coen Hess came off the interchange bench and decided he'd really like a try, thanks.
The Cowboys were five metres out, but the Broncos looked set —a determined, remorseless surge by Hess ended with the ball planted over the line, and suddenly the Cowboys were level at 6-6, when they had looked decidedly second-best up till then.
For Brisbane, Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt were vital as expected, but one of the biggest roars of the night came when Brisbane kicked to try and pin the Cowboys for a drop-out.
It looked like they were out, but Josh McGuire's stunning tackle both stopped the momentum, and allowed the Broncos to force the tiring Cowboys back in-goal.
These teams can change gears. Quickly
It had been a fairly intense first half, with the Broncos going in 14-12 to the good after a late try to Michael Morgan brought the visitors back into things.
But within two or three minutes in the second half, any ideas that the two sides had been playing to capacity disappeared as the Cowboys took their play up several notches.
Jake Granville was in within three minutes, and suddenly the North Queensland side was in front.
That advantage didn't last long, as a sweeping move down the right brought the ball through the hands of Glenn, then James Roberts and finally — through what replays showed was a VERY forward pass — to Jordan Kahu, who raced and dodged his way in to the in-goal for a try.
The pressure seemed to double every five minutes after that, as commentators laughed at the sheer intensity of it all, and the fans shook their heads, and the players just kept playing.
Both sides paid a price
When two sides this evenly matched go full bore at each other, injuries are likely.
In this game there were plenty. For the Cowboys, Antonio Winterstein came off early with a suspected broken forearm, prop Scott Bolton was injured in the second half, and Matt Scott went down to the sheds well before (what would normally be) the end of the game.
Brisbane had their issues too, with Matt Gillett in all sorts after a crunching hit from North Queensland.
As time ticked down, Anthony Milford looked like he was in trouble after a big hit, but he stayed out there, while the Cowboys were essentially without a full-back for the last few minutes of normal time plus golden point, with Lachlan Coote unable to run as cramp and various injuries took hold.
It didn't matter. Whoever was able to run filled in admirably, on both sides.
The other big question is whether the Cowboys will lose enforcer Jason Taumololo for a week or two after his silly shoulder charge on Alex Glenn.
These losses really hurt
It's all very well saying it's a brilliant game and both sides produced a game of the year in round two but try telling that to the team that lost.
It must have felt like deja vu all over again for the Broncos, for whom THAT grand final loss in 2015 still burns.
This may only have been an early-season meeting between the two, but a quick glance at the faces of the winners and losers tells you there was more than two competition points at stake out there.
These two teams respect each other, measure themselves against each other, and want to demolish their opponent every single time they play.
The evidence: Sam Thaiday, who told Grandstand after the match "this will probably be the game I'll miss when I retire."
All that's left to say now is — we can't wait for the next one.
Topics: sport, rugby-league, nrl, brisbane-4000, townsville-4810, qld, australia