Former Sydney Rooster Ben Jones gets another chance to impress in the NRL after being thrust into injured Johnathan Thurston's halfback role for North Queensland against Gold Coast on Saturday.

Coach Neil Henry reacted to last weekend's home loss to Wests Tigers by relegating youngster Michael Morgan to the Mackay Cutters and promoting 21-year-old Jones, who was discovered by Arthur Beetson and played in the Indigenous All Stars game earlier this year.

Jones faces a tough start, up against seasoned Titans halfback and skipper Scott Prince.

"He's been thrown in the deep end," said Thurston, who'll make the trip to Skilled Stadium to help prepare the halves and support the side as he recovers from the knee injury suffered in Queensland's Origin series-clinching victory.

Medical staff have informed Thurston he won't get back onto the field until the week before the finals.

He had been hoping he could defy medical opinion by making it back from his injury in four weeks but has now accepted it'll probably take longer.

"It was a pretty ugly incident and heading towards the finals I don't want to come back earlier than expected and do more damage," Thurston said on Tuesday.

"It's still on target for a six week return. There's good days and bad days, it's slow but it's alright.

"Some days I wake up and it seems a long way away and some days I wake up it feels pretty good."

The Titans will have their own promising 21-year-old in the halves with former Toyota Cup player of the year Beau Henry named at five-eighth for his keenly-awaited NRL debut for the club, having played six games for the Newcastle earlier this season before being released.

Injuries to lock Ashley Harrison (elbow) and prop Michael Henderson (broken finger) forced coach John Cartwright to shuffle his line-up with William Zillman going to the centres and Bodene Thompson named in the back row.

Cartwright was excited about seeing what Henry had to offer.

"We brought him here to play five-eighth outside Scotty Prince so we'll see how he goes this week, said Cartwright.

"We haven't been able to settle on a five-eighth this year since Matty (Rogers) retired and that's why he was primarily brought here.

"He's had a bit of a chequered year with injury but he's a pretty fit young fellow and we want to see how that combination works.

"He's very skilful, he's still carrying the effects of the ankle operation he had earlier in the year and he's going to need another post season.

"But there's no further damage that can be done to his ankle and he's keen and is confident he can get through the 80 minutes."

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