North Queensland are fast running out of time to turn their season around and coach Paul Green has the axe poised ready to swing if his misfiring team keeps losing.
Leading into their home clash with Gold Coast this Saturday, Green has named the same 17 players who lost to Canterbury last start but said "you can't keep doing what you've always done and expect a different result…that's the definition of insanity".
Green has faith, at least for one more week, his side can finally click and get their second win on the board.
"I've said all along we're not too far off, so you don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water because it's not completely disastrous," he said.
"There are a few things we need to fix and fix now, and we don't need to start from scratch just yet."
Those words might spur the Cowboys on to victory over the Titans this weekend, but if they don't the versatile Todd Carney is waiting in the wings to keep the pressure on.
Green confirmed the club had met NRL CEO Todd Greenberg in its quest to have Carney's contract registered.
"He can cover a number of positions, his experience would be invaluable for us and we've unfortunately copped a couple of injuries with our younger guys too in those positions that he'd cover," Green said.
"We still haven't got any resolution at this stage, there are still a couple of more steps in the process.
"I'm reasonably confident but it's not a simple process for obvious reasons so we've just got to trust the process and all the discussions so far have been good, they've been healthy ones."
There's also the imminent return in the Intrust Super Cup of rugged forward Shaun Fensom from a broken leg to give the Cowboys extra incentive to run and tackle harder.
Fensom stiffened up the Cowboys defence in the middle last year after arriving from Canberra.
"Shaun Fensom comes back from injury hopefully this week, if he can get through the week all right, which will be a good boost for not only Shaun but also the playing group so there are a few options for us," Green said.
