North Queensland coach Neil Henry has hit the nail on the head by admitting his players have discovered ways to lose NRL games in 2010.

And suffering fans are unlikely to get any respite on Saturday with the Cowboys heading to the national capital to face a white-hot Canberra, who put the cleaners through the league's most disciplined and best defensive side last weekend to keep their finals fire flickering.

After dissecting another gut-wrenching loss to the Bulldogs when they let in three tries in the last nine minutes, Henry conceded his players had almost perfected ways to lose games they should have won.

"We tend to find losses, we've done it a couple of times this year," said Henry, who has lost representative centre Willie Tonga to injury.

"We've talk to players about a few key things. It's shattering in the space of nine minutes that we can conceded three tries and lose a game of football like that.

"When you look at the review process, for 71 minutes of that game we were pretty good and for large parts of the game we were dominant.

"Players were scratching their heads too, but obviously once confidence is down and once sides can pegs back points against us, we've certainly found ways to lose games."

Players may have been scratching their heads but fans have been pulling out their hair with the Cowboys only spared the wooden spoon by salary-cap abusers Melbourne Storm.

Tonga's injury makes the task of giving fans something to cheer about very unlikely, especially the way Canberra dismantled the Dragons with a display of expansive attack.

"It's one thing after another," said Henry on Tuesday, following a dramatic week for the club which included a five-hour board meeting to review everyone's position, including his.

"He fell awkwardly in a tackle and said he said straight away it wasn't real good.

"We were hoping it was just an adductor strain but apparently it's a tear.

"They're usually two to four weeks, more like four weeks our doctor says so it looks like his season is over."

Tonga's injury means long-serving Ty Williams will play his 150th game in the centres, one of two milestones with young prop Matt Scott celebrating his 100th match.

"It's fantastic, it's a big milestone for Ty, he's been at the club for a number of years now," said Henry.

Impressive youngster Will Tupou and Michael Morgan have been overlooked for selection to allow them to play in the under-20s side which has qualified for the finals.

"We've decided it's best they get back there for their development and confidence anyway," explained Henry.

Tupou needs to play the last two games to qualify him for the NYC finals.

"He's signed here for next year and I think that will be best for him at this stage of his career."

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