Melbourne have given up a commanding lead for the second straight match with a fast-finishing North Queensland scoring three tries in eight minutes for a shock 28-24 win.

The Storm appeared headed for victory in their Saturday night match at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on the back of four tries from winger Will Warbrick.

The Cowboys celebrate after beating the Storm. Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

Craig Bellamy’s men looked comfortable with a 10-point lead when Warbrick crossed for his fourth in the 64th minute.

But the Cowboys then fired back at their highly rated rivals with front-rowers Sam McIntyre and Heilum Luki, and winger Braidon Burns, who scored his second for the night, turning the game on its head.

The trio scored in the 68th, 71st and 76th minute to leave the Storm shell-shocked after handing the visitors their first back-to-back losses since the start of the 2025 season.

Last round Melbourne were up 14-0 at home before Brisbane roared back to secure an 18-14 victory.

Warbrick looked like he would be the hero of the night, standing up in a decimated Melbourne backline.

With Nick Meaney and Xavier Coates on the sidelines, the Storm lost hard-running centre Jack Howarth to a hip injury for the second half.

But Warbrick combined with halfback Jahrome Hughes for two valuable first-half tries and then scored another two in the second stanza.

Skipper Harry Grant can take credit for Warbrick’s last when he spotted his winger unmarked and lobbed the pass from dummy-half over four defenders’ heads for his winger to dive across in the corner.

That 64th-minute try put Melbourne up 24-14 and looked to have put the brakes on the Cowboys’ fightback.

But it appeared to be more of a brief pause with the home side swinging momentum back with fullback Scott Drinkwater and halfback Tom Dearden piloting the attack.

North Queensland got off to a flying start through five-eighth Jake Clifford, who leapt AFL-style to take a Drinkwater bomb to score in the fourth minute.

The high octane match went end to end with Melbourne taking a 16-10 lead into halftime courtesy of Warbrick and the hot feet of fullback Sua Fa’alogo.

They pushed that out to 24-14 but the margin wasn’t enough to hold out a fearless Cowboys outfit, who banked their second straight win to relieve some of the pressure on coach Todd Payten.