NRL quiet achievers North Queensland face a potential top-four spot decider against fierce rivals Brisbane at home in round 23, but coach Neil Henry has more immediate concerns about patching a leaky defence.

Two extreme statistics - one good, one bad - explain why Henry can't relax and enjoy the fact his team leapfrogged the Broncos to reclaim a top-four position with the 30-18 home win over Penrith on Saturday night.

The exciting Cowboys comfortably lead the league in scoring with 452 points, including 83 tries.

But they've also got the worst defensive record of any team in the top eight with 368 points conceded.

"We back ourselves with our attack and we've got good points, but there's no doubt we need to be defensively better," said Henry.

"The top sides defensively don't afford you the luxury we have against other sides with our attack."

The August 12 home match against the Broncos is looming as the biggest of regular season for the Cowboys, who will hope co-skipper Johnathan Thurston can return a week earlier than forecast from his knee injury in order to play.

A top-four spot - and home match in the first week of finals - may be on the line for both sides and would be huge for the Cowboys.

They have made Dairy Farmers Stadium a fortress this season, losing just two of their 10 home games, and would surely feel confident of progressing further into the finals if they play the first match at home.

However Henry said there was too much football either side of that match to focus on it.

"Look, who knows, with Manly getting beaten, the Dragons getting beaten (last Monday), it's starting to get fairly congested at the top.

"We need to go a week at a time, which everyone says, but we need to and not worry too much," he said.

Henry said after rectifying their record at home following the loss of the previous outing in Townsville against Wests Tigers, the only important thing was to keep winning.

"I'm just worried about getting two points, I'm not too concerned at the moment (about the top-four spot).

"There are five games to go and the important thing was we got two points and particularly at home. We were disappointing here against Wests Tigers last time."

The Cowboys face the Bulldogs in Sydney on Friday and Henry said he expects young winger Kalifa Faifai Loa to be available, despite missing the majority of the second half against the Panthers with a strained hamstring.

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