North Queensland centre Valentine Holmes credits a whipping at the hands of Wests Tigers in round 12 for the stunning turnaround in the side's form.
The Cowboys were beaten 66-18 at Leichhardt Oval and slumped to 16th on the NRL ladder.
They also lost the following week to Parramatta in a much better display but since then have won six games in a row to move to seventh.
They have beaten competition heavyweights Penrith, Melbourne, the Eels and Souths in that winning sequence.
On Sunday, North Queensland travel to the Gold Coast with their confidence and form sky high.
"The game against the Tigers down there really hurt us individually as players and as a team we had to have a look at ourselves as a team," Holmes said.
"It just wasn't the way we had planned it. After that Tigers game we knew that wasn't us with the way he played. We wanted to turn things around.
"It all just came down to effort and wanting to make tackles, wanting to chase back. That is what we've been doing. We haven't changed much, except how much we've been competing on every play."
Holmes is a Queensland regular in the State of Origin arena but he says the Maroons' 2-1 series win was just the tonic for the contingent of Cowboys in the squad. Hooker Reece Robson was also selected for NSW and fullback Scott Drinkwater was 18th man for the Blues in game three.
Murray Taulagi, Reuben Cotter, Jeremiah Nanai and Tom Dearden were other club teammates in the Maroons squad.
"It seems like it has been a plus for all seven of us boys, even Drinky got a taste of it in game three," he said.
"It is always a privilege to be in those camps but confidence wise we weren't travelling that well as a club before Origin.
"The guys have come back more confident in their own game and they have brought the confidence back for the rest of the team.
"The recognition of being selected (in Origin) even though you are not going so well as a team or personally ... when you come back you don't want to let your teammates down."
Holmes was the fastest North Queensland player to reach the 600 points mark in last week's 24-16 win over Parramatta, taking him just 73 games. Johnathan Thurston (2182 points) and Josh Hannay (882) are the other two Cowboys to reach the milestone, but did it in 95 and 110 games respectively.
"It is pretty special and an honour to be up there with those names," Holmes said.
