North Queensland NRL coach Paul Green insists he's not engaging in mind games over whether Matt Scott will play in Saturday's preliminary final and had owed it to his co-captain to choose him in the initial squad.
Kangaroos and Queensland forward Scott, who suffered a serious knee injury in round two, was a shock inclusion in that 21-man squad to play the Sydney Roosters.
Green said Scott trained well on Friday in Sydney but hadn't decided whether to select him in the final squad.
"I'm not trying to play games. The rules are that if you want to include someone, you need to name them in your squad so that's why he's in the 21," Green said.
Asked whether Scott would play on Saturday at Allianz Stadium, Green said "we'll see, he trained today so we'll see how everyone pulls up tomorrow."
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He didn't anticipate any late injury problems, saying forward Coen Hess and winger Antonio Winterstein had come through well after having issues earlier in the week.
Asked if it would take one of the Cowboys pulling up badly after training or for Scott to come up well after the session for him to play, Green said "Hmmm, that's for me to decide."
Green conceded Scott's knee and his lack of match fitness could be concerns if he did make the match-day squad.
"But the main concern would be the knee," Green said.
"It's been about seven months now which probably, in an ideal world, we'd probably want to wait another few weeks but he's not far off."
"He's a leader of the club; he's a great player; we all how good a player he is.
"He wanted to be included, so I think I owe him at least that."
The Cowboys have also been without their other co-captain and leading playmaker Johnathan Thurston for a significant part of the campaign.
Michael Morgan has stepped up in Thurston's absence.
"He's probably just as important in our team as Mitchell Pearce is to them (the Roosters)," Green said.
Green described young Roosters back Latrell Mitchell as a match-winner and a key player.
"He's a young guy, but he's an integral part of them and a real threat," Green said.
He was confident fatigue wouldn't be an issue for his side after travelling to Sydney for a third-straight week.
Green had no issues with the media exchanges between his strike forward Jason Taumalolo and the Roosters' hard man Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
"I think it's great. It's what the fans love to see - it's part of what our sport is about," Green said.
