North Queensland speedster Gideon Gela-Mosby gets his chance on the wing and has his chance to lock down a position for the coming months with Ben Hampton sidelined with a ruptured biceps.
Hampton could be out for up to 16 weeks, and while Gela-Mosby has a knack for scoring tries – with six in his eight NRL games so far – his coach is hoping he can contribute on the defensive end as well.
"Gids [Gideon] has had a disrupted season so far, now he gets his chance," Paul Green said on Tuesday.
"I thought our performance as a team last week was built around defence and we were good in that area, so he needs to play his part and do his job in that respect.
"Speed helps, he's got plenty of that and things definitely happen around him."
Commenting on Hampton's biceps injury, Green said "any long-term injury is very disappointing."
"Ben's pretty popular amongst the players. He's a good guy, always positive, he's got plenty of talk about him too which breeds a bit of enthusiasm, so we'll miss him from that point of view but disappointed for him too," Green said.
Maroons forward Josh McGuire has been included on an extended bench and could play his first game since hobbling from the field due to a calf injury in round eight.
Match Highlights: Cowboys v Eels
"We haven't trained together as a group yet. We'll probably have a better idea after that," Green said of McGuire's availability.
"He's pretty keen [to play]. He knows there's some big games around the corner, so he wants to get a game under his belt before that."
Jake Granville will have to fight a dangerous contact charge on Tuesday night after being charged by the match review committee for attacking the legs of the Eels' Mitchell Moses. Green confident he'll be free to play this week and have the opportunity to push his case for Origin selection.
"I didn't think there was much in the tackle, I thought he showed all care to make sure it didn't go wrong. We don't fight them if we don't think we've got a better than fair chance, so we'll see how we go tonight," he said.
"His last few games have been his most consistent for us and I think our forwards are probably benefiting from that. I think we've been good through the midfield, so he's really important to that."
In the case of Granville being suspended Green said Mitch Dunn or Reuben Cotter could step up.
"There's a couple of options there, Dunny played a bit of dummy half earlier in the year and of course we've got Reuben Cotter. He's got a few games under his belt from Mackay, so they're probably the main options at this stage."
Another club favourite in Justin O'Neill will play his 100th game this weekend.
"A hundred games for the club is a good achievement. I'm really pleased for Justin from that point of view," Green said.
"He's a great example of when things don't go right or according to plan, he's learnt his lesson and found a way to find a bit of form. I think his games have been outstanding for us."
