Assistant Broncos coach Ivan Henjak believes a desperate Cowboys will be more dangerous on Friday night following the late loss of their inspirational skipper Johnathan Thurston.

A week after being stung by a Bulldogs side coming off five straight losses, Brisbane head to Townsville for the Queensland derby against a struggling Cowboys outfit caught in a 10 game losing slump and devastated by injury to its big guns which this week claimed Thurston.

Henjak said everything was stacked in the Cowboys favour because nobody expected them to win on Friday night.

"There's no pressure on them, they're not expected to win," said Henjak after losing veteran Tonie Carroll (ankle) on Thursday.

"They've lost ten in a row and this is a game where they can redeem themselves.

"They can just go all out, throw caution to the wind and have a really good crack at us.

"I can see Thurston not being there as maybe a little bit of a positive with a few other guys realising they have to take a bit more responsibility."

One thing Henjak was sure about was that the Broncos would not repeat last weekend's sluggish effort against the Bulldogs.

"It's not unlike last week against the Bulldogs when we were expected to win and we came up short whether it was a bit of rust or a little bit of complacency," he said.

"We've certainly talked about the ambush and it's not going to be an ambush because we know it's coming."

Brisbane had to reshuffle their line-up after losing veteran lock Carroll to an ankle injury.

Corey Parker has been moved to lock with Ashton Sims coming off the bench into the second row.

Utility David Stagg, who passed a fitness test on his ankle has been dropped from the centre to the bench with Joel Moon starting.

Travis Burns returns from suspension to cover for Thurston and coach Ian Millward revealed he spoke to the volatile 24-year-old about keeping his temper in check.

"Travis will play there and he probably owes the club something," said Millward who faces a tough task to come up with a plan to contain Brisbane's attack of Darren Lockyer, Peter Wallace, Michael Ennis and Karmichael Hunt.

"His indiscretions were accidental they were because of his own actions.

"He owes us a couple, he probably owes the club eight good games to end the year."

Millward said he spoke to Burns and outlined what was expected of him on the field.

"People don't change overnight but I'm pretty confident he understands what we want," he said.

"He's pretty excited about the challenge."

While Millward acknowledged the danger posed on Friday night by Lockyer, he said he would not be over analysing him.

"I really believe coaches can spend too much time being obsessed with him," he said.

"He's not our major issue tomorrow night.

"That's making sure our attack has some fluency with a new halfback and that defensively we can cope with the pressure Lockyer, Wallace and Hunt put your under."

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