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North Queensland have beaten Newcastle 36-20 with three-try hero Murray Taulagi and fullback Valentine Holmes showing the way.

North Queensland have won their fourth straight game at home, beating Newcastle 36-20 in Townsville despite having two players sent to the sin bin.

Led by the dominance of their left edge, the Cowboys' second-half effort was enough to see off a spirited Knights outfit on Thursday.

Murray Taulagi bagged a hat-trick, with Valentine Holmes and Scott Drinkwater both orchestrating skilfully throughout a contest that saw Cowboys' Jason Taumalolo and Lachlan Burr put in the sin bin for head-high tackles.

Cowboys coach Todd Payten, who had lost players to the bin for a second consecutive match, said: "It is what it is. Players are going to have to work harder and harder and harder.

"All my focus is how we're going to manage it moving forward."

But Payten was proud of a scrambling defensive effort, with the Cowboys limiting the Knights to one score in the second half.

"We were on the same page more often than not tonight, which is really important," he said.

"Good teams manage to find a way to stay in the fight and wrestle back momentum and we took another small step forward tonight."

While Payten's side cruised to a 16-0 lead after 20 minutes with tries to Taulagi and Reece Robson, they quickly let the Knights back into the game following the back-to-back sin-bins.

The Knights capitalised with tries from Sausao Sue, Enari Tuala and Lachlan Fitzgibbon with the game tied 16-16 at the break.

Although the Knights were first to score in the second half, the Cowboys went back to their rampant left edge and scored through Taulagi and Holmes.

Taulagi has now enjoyed his longest consecutive stint in first grade rugby league, something, according to Payten, that comes with his commitment to the craft.

'I thought Murray Taulagi had his best game that I'd ever seen, both when I was away and since I've been here," Payten said.

"He's got a heap of skill and a heap of class but the foundation of his game was built off just running hard.

"It was a couple of weeks ago where I was showing him clips about running harder, and he's taking that on board. I thought he was pretty solid last week and got better again this week."

Late tries for Mitchell Dunn and NRL debutant Heilum Luki put the game to bed, as the young, inexperienced Knights will rue errors that cost them in the second half.

Valentine Holmes finished with a try and two assists, while Scott Drinkwater was exceptional in left attack, bagging three assists.

Taulagi backed up his hat-trick with 153 running metres and 12 tackle busts.

With the win, the Cowboys enter the top-eight for the first time this season.

Holmes' try and four conversions brought up an NRL points milestone for the fullback.

In a career spanning seven seasons, including five with Cronulla before trying his luck in the NFL, Holmes has now passed 500 points.