Gold Coast’s recruitment decisions paid dividends in their NRL season-opener on Saturday night as high-profile recruit Jamal Idris picked up two tries in an 18-0 win over the Cowboys in Townsville.

The 2011 wooden-spooners dominated the error-prone home team to pick up their first win at Dairy Farmers Stadium since 2009.

It was the first time since round 23 in 2006 that the Cowboys had been held scoreless and the first time since round five 2003 that it happened at home.

The Titans won just six games last year but took only five minutes to open the scoring, Idris pouncing on a Scott Prince kick.

Despite their domination, the Titans were unable to punish the Cowboys who completed less than 50 per cent of their first half sets.

The Cowboys completion rate didn’t improve after the break but they looked like being the first side to score.

On 52 minutes Mosese Pangai thought he had opened their account when he crossed the line after receiving a Robert Lui cut-out pass, but the referee judged backrower Gavin Cooper to have knocked on.

The Titans made them pay for their errors when Steve Michaels somehow managed to hold onto a bouncing ball, dropped by Cowboys winger Ash Graham off a Jordan Rankin bomb on 56 minutes.

James Tamou gave away a penalty in the 60th minute and Prince made no mistake from 35 metres.

Idris was too strong for the Cowboys defence on 74 minutes, collecting a Matt Srama pass to complete his dream debut.

The Cowboys completed just 16 of their 37 sets (43 per cent) and made 26 errors to the Titans’ 10.