A season-ending knee injury to North Queensland cult favourite Steve Southern may have also drawn the curtain on his career at the NRL club.

And another injury is also the last thing Cowboys coach Neil Henry needs after calculating his side's finals equation.

"If we win 10 out of 14 games - that's the equation," Henry said on Tuesday of the third-last Cowboys (3-7 record).

"And if we win four of our next five leading into a bye you get a bit of momentum."

But Henry admits he will need all hands on deck to execute his bold plan, starting with Saturday night's clash with Manly at Townsville.

Which makes 2005 grand finalist Southern's latest injury setback all the more shattering.

Coming back from a calf complaint, Southern ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the Queensland Cup last weekend during the Cowboys' bye.

"It's very disappointing. He's also had a few shoulder operations, and he was just starting to get back on track after coming back from a torn calf," he said.

"And with Steve Rapira struggling with osteitis pubis - that's two of your second rowers gone."

The flame-haired Southern, dubbed "Bluey", had carved out a cult following since his 2004 first grade debut - but Henry conceded Cowboys fans may have seen the last of the off-contract backrower.

"It is looking doubtful for his future at this club but I wouldn't close the door on him yet," Henry said.

"It has certainly been a frustrating couple of seasons for him ... but he can walk away from this club with a real sense of achievement.

"He got a bit of a cult following here.

"We attribute a lot of our success in 2004 and 2005 to his ability to really whack people mid-field and play an aggressive style."

After naming a near full strength side for Manly, Henry is sweating on Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott and Willie Tonga returning from Wednesday's Origin in one piece as they attempt to "do a Parramatta" and scrape into the NRL finals.

"They (Eels) rolled into eighth spot and then went through to the grand final (last year) on the back of a lot of momentum - and that's what we can do," Henry said.

"If we can keep our players together leading into the rest of the season we have the personnel to win a lot of games.

"Sides can get on a run in this comp - look at Penrith.

"But we still need to play with intensity and confidence - hopefully we see that change in attitude this Saturday night."

However, Henry was hardly concerned by NSW claims that they would test out Thurston's recuperating shoulder in Origin I.

"JT gets targeted anyway. He will have backrowers coming at him - that's just part and parcel of Origin," he said.

And Henry hinted that Manly may be the perfect launching pad for their daring finals run.

"We know it's going to be tough, but it might be a good thing," he said.

"We know we are going to be into a fairly physical game - that might suit us.

"It might spark us into some action because we haven't been able to start that well."

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