North Queensland's impressive start to the 2017 NRL season continued in Townsville on Friday as a composed Cowboys accounted for South Sydney 20-6.

The battle between the 2014 and 2015 premiers never reached any great heights but North Queensland were by far the better side and improved to 4-1 on the season, with a solid performance against a sluggish Rabbitohs.

Damien Cook made a game-high 53 tackles after starting at hooker in place of NSW State of Origin No.9 Robbie Farah, who played just eight minutes after being relegated to the bench.