North Queensland's slumping NRL campaign has copped another big blow with fullback Michael Morgan ruled out for the rest of the season.
Scans have confirmed Morgan tore his bicep when attempting to tackle a runaway Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in Friday night's NRL loss to the Warriors.
The Queensland Origin representative has been booked for season-ending surgery this week, with Lachlan Coote and Ben Hampton the likely options to take over as fullback after the representative round break.
Morgan will be joined on the sidelines for the rest of the season by forward Sam Hoare, who suffered an ACL injury in the closing moments on Friday.
Co-captain Matt Scott also re-aggravated a neck injury that will seemingly keep him out of a possible recall for State of Origin II. However it is unclear how long he will be out for.
The casualty toll continues a horror campaign for the Cowboys, who had begun with such high expectations for superstar Johnathan Thurston's farewell season.
They sit two points above last spot on the ladder in a year when they were widely tipped to challenge for the premiership.
Morgan had struggled to re-capture the brilliant form that helped catapult the Cowboys from eighth spot to a shock grand final appearance last year.
In some rare good news, prop Jordan McLean is a chance of returning from injury in their next clash against South Sydney.
