North Queensland coach Neil Henry may have taken advice from wife Kath before declaring it was time for the Cowboys to draw a line in the sand against NRL powerhouse Sydney Roosters in Townsville on Saturday night.

“She (Kath) is a footy tragic and she certainly has some advice for me sometimes on how we’re going or not going,” said Henry before this week’s NRL round dedicated to women in league.

Kath Henry, like most Cowboys fans, might say he’s not travelling too well with the 10th-placed team under the pump to live up to pre-season predictions they were a definite top-four club and premiership contenders.

North Queensland’s halfback woes – with injuries to Robert Lui, Ray Thompson and Michael Morgan – have made it difficult to create playmaking cohesion with star five-eighth Johnathan Thurston and fullback Matt Bowen.

Henry will be hoping the likely return from a knee injury of Lui – who just needs to pull up well from Friday’s training run – will ease that headache in his battle against NSW Origin halfback Mitchell Pearce.

Henry said the lack of continuity in the halves was nobody’s fault with Thompson, Lui and Morgan all going down with injuries at various stages.

“It’s been part of the problem there’s no doubt about that, but really we have to take ownership of our performances,” he said.

“We’re up against a powerful side (Roosters) going well and motoring along near the top of the competition, we know we’re up for a tough game of footy.

“We’re at the stage where we need to draw a line in the sand and say `listen, we need to kick start our season’.”