English star Gareth Ellis is a chance of making an early return from a groin injury for the Wests Tigers' NRL clash with North Queensland on Monday night.

Ellis suffered the injury two weeks ago against Brisbane and missed last Friday's one-point victory over Gold Coast.

He was slated for a round 20 return but could line up against the Cowboys at Leichhardt Oval after returning to training with the Tigers on Thursday.

"He's a chance to play," Tigers assistant Peter Gentle told reporters on Sunday.

"Someone with his ability you want to monitor, you don't want to bring him back too early.

"If he plays, he will be a hundred per cent.

"We're not in a position where we're going to run him out at 90 per cent or 95 per cent. We're not at that desperate stage yet.

"Hopefully he'll be right."

The Tigers were running a squad of 20 at their final training session, including serial retiree John Skandalis and halfback Robert Lui, who is being nursed back from a knee injury.

Skandalis is almost certain to make his latest NRL comeback from the bench, while a decision will be made on Lui on Monday with his knee still blowing up after each session.

Another fiery clash between the 2005 grand final combatants is on the cards, although public enemy No.1 in Leichhardt, Cowboys' benchman Anthony Watts, will be missing through suspension.

Watts and Tigers skipper Robbie Farah waged a battle throughout last year's clash, also at Leichhardt.

"No Anthony Watts is good for us," Farah said.

"He's been playing good footy for them off the bench and providing them with a lot of spark out of dummy-half so they're going to miss him off the bench and miss his impact."

But Farah said there will still be plenty of feeling between the sides, who last met in Townsville in round five, a 23-16 victory to a Tigers side which lost Tim Moltzen to a season-ending knee injury.

"When you get two teams that have played in a grand final I guess it creates a bit of history and there's always a bit of emotion involved," Farah said.

The disappointing Cowboys have managed just four wins in 2010 and sit only above points-less Melbourne in 15th place on the ladder.

"If you start looking at the ladder and looking at teams behind you and thinking they're sitting 15th so we're going to beat them, I think that's a load of crap," Farah said.

"It's a mystery to me why their performances this year haven't been as good as they should be.

"They're kind of the team you expect to click into gear at any stage."

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