North Queensland's NRL season is as good as over but Cowboys centre Willie Tonga is hoping his isn't.

Tonga picked up a groin injury in his club's 22-20 loss to Canterbury on Saturday night, the Queensland State of Origin representative limping from the field shortly after halftime.

If scans on Monday reveal a tear, Tonga's season is over, with the Cowboys finals chances dashed a long time ago.

But Tonga is remaining optimistic he will be fit to play against Canberra in round 25.

"Hopefully it's not too bad," he said.

"It's an adductor-type strain.

"I've done a couple before and it's the same pain that I've felt.

"It depends how bad (the scan) is I guess, if it's a strain hopefully I can make it back for next week."

Aiding his cause is the fact he left the field as soon as he felt it go.

Tonga admitted he had entertained the thought of playing through the pain but with nothing left to play for in 2010 he decided the risk of aggravating the injury wasn't worth the possible gain.

"I just didn't want to risk it," he said.

"I felt it go and I was thinking about pushing through it but I'm marking up against Josh Morris and he's pretty good on his feet and he's got a lot of pace.

"I didn't want to let the team down."

With Tonga off the field, the Bulldogs hammered his edge of the field and eventually came up with results in their stunning last gasp win.

Down 20-6 with 11 minutes left to play, Canterbury ran in three tries in just four minutes to steal the unlikely result.

The loss typified the Cowboys season, the club having lost its last four games at home by less than six points.

Holding a lead and then capitulating has also been a common theme, with North Queensland giving away leads to lose against Wests Tigers and Penrith in recent weeks.

The Cowboys sit last of the competing teams this season with just five wins to show for their troubles, sitting only above Melbourne who are unable to accrue competition points.

Tonga was shattered after another narrow loss.

"We go back to it and we've got no answers for it," Tonga said.

"(Coach) Neil (Henry) made a point about giving teams wins, pretty much, letting them score and giving away tries. That's pretty much what we did.

"That's not acceptable."

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