North Queensland halfback Johnathan Thurston suffered a shoulder injury as the Cowboys succumbed to a 23-16 defeat to the Wests Tigers on Saturday.

The Queensland and Australian star suffered a subluxed left shoulder during the first half of the NRL clash at Dairy Farmers Stadium, one of several injuries in a brutal game.

Cowboys staff will assess the damage with scans on Monday, but a serious injury could see him sidelined for up to a month and put him in doubt for the Test against New Zealand on May 7.

Compounding the worries for the Cowboys was the sight of vice-captain and regular hooker Aaron Payne limping off with 10 minutes to go with a probable ankle injury.

Tigers halfback Tim Moltzen suffered an even more serious injury, ruling himself out for the rest of the season after a complete tear of his anterior cruciate and lateral ligaments in his left knee in the 15th minute of the match.

The Tigers won the game despite a second-half fightback from the Cowboys, with five-eighth Benji Marshall starring.

The New Zealander set up two tries and had a hand in a third in the first half to set-up the Tigers' win.

Trailing 18-2 at halftime, the Cowboys clawed their way back into the game in the second half with tries to Scott Bolton and Willie Tonga reducing the gap to six points and setting up a cracking finale.

Shannan Gallant had a chance to score against his former club in the 58th minute, but had the ball stripped from his grasp in a desperate one-on-one tackle from opposite number Beau Ryan.

Chris Lawrence sealed the result with his second try of the game inside the final five minutes while Anthony Watts barged over from dummy half with 90 seconds remaining to score a consolation try.

Both clubs could also face meetings with the judiciary this week, with two players placed on report.

Cowboys firebrand Luke O'Donnell could be in the most hot water, sin-binned in the shadows of halftime for an ugly tackle on Tigers fullback Ryan which saw his neck twisted and O'Donnell placed on report.

That penalty was the third in a row for the NSW representative who also launched a spray at referee Gavin Badger in the lead-up.

Andrew Fifita could also find himself in trouble for his high shot on James Tamou in the 14th minute.

Tigers prop Todd Payten also suffered a calf injury during the match.

Despite the loss, Cowboys coach Neil Henry praised his charges for standing up in the absence of Thurston and Payne with their second half fightback.

"Both coaches were lamenting those injuries," he said.

"Losing JT certainly is a big blow to us but we were very happy with how we fought back in the second half.

"Not much in it at the end, Shannon Gallant loses the ball over the line, John Williams takes that pass off Ray when he goes through there and he probably goes in under the posts.

"I'm very proud of how we handled the losses of a couple of key players."

Tigers coach Tim Sheens was proud of his side's ability to win "ugly" and stand up in the face of the fired up Cowboys with no fresh forwards on the bench.

"We finished with 15 and there were some issues to come out of the game," he said.

"They played two games in one there tonight.

"Totally exhausted, that's what they were. They were hanging on.

"We came up with a couple of good plays and came up with a try to seal it so I can't get too hard on anyone."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP