North Queensland pair Jason Taumalolo and Matt Scott are facing one-match bans for separate shoulder charges stemming from Friday night’s dramatic NRL golden-point win over Brisbane.
The Cowboys, who have already confirmed they will be without winger Antonio Winterstein for six weeks with a broken arm, have been left reeling from the win.
Taumalalo has been hit with a grade-one no-arms hit on Alex Glenn in the 26th minute, and will miss next Saturday’s home clash with Manly even with an early guilty plea.
If he attempts to fight it at the judiciary, and loses, he risks missing the round-four clash with Gold Coast.
Scott will only sit out one game even if he fights the charge for his hit on Korbin Sims, because of his seven-year good record.
However, that is unlikely to matter, with the Cowboys sweating on the results of scans on the Queensland front-rower’s injured knee.
Scott was taken from the field with 10 minutes remaining in normal time of the 21-20 win, after limping in defence.
They are also waiting on the results of scans for fullback Lachlan Coote’s injured calf.
Scott’s potential season-ending injury would be a massive blow for Queensland, already without superstar Greg Inglis from this year’s State of Origin series.
The pair would likely be racing the clock to be fit for the home end-of-year World Cup.
In other judiciary news, Warriors forward Charlie Gubb faces a grade-one dangerous contact charge involving Melbourne winger Suliasi Vunivalu.
He can escape suspension with an early guilty plea.