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Cowboys halfback Michael Morgan.

Securing a much-needed win on Saturday night outweighs his own milestone when Cowboys captain Michael Morgan chalks up his 150th NRL game against the Eels at Townsville.

With the Cowboys two wins adrift of eighth place after slumping to a 3-6 record following Sunday's Magic Round loss to the Rabbitohs, this weekend's clash is crucial to their hopes of staying in touch with the leading teams.

The Townsville Brothers junior, who made his Telstra Premiership debut for the club in 2010, said he hadn't given the significance of his personal achievement much thought.

"It's pretty special," he said.

"To see the guys who have done it and I've got play alongside a few of them now, Jason [Taumololo] was the most recent, so it's pretty special to think that we both started here the same year in the 20s together and not too far apart from each other playing a milestone game like this. Hopefully we can top it off with a win.

"At the moment it is [a crucial game] for us as a group, for where our season is at the moment. So, any milestone game, put that to the side, we still really need to win."

Morgan's magical banana kick

Since the start of the season, Morgan has been involved in three halves pairings playing alongside Te Maire Martin, Jake Clifford, and now for a third week in a row, John Asiata.

"It will be work in progress. Johnny hasn't played there a lot before. I know that he does enjoy the position but when you do it week to week there's a bit more to it. It's probably a harder position to get that consistency too because it changes each week.

"I'll try and take some responsibility off Johnny and be more of a controlled player, lead us around and do the majority of the kicking again. If I can do those things hopefully it'll help him out a little bit and he'll take opportunities when he wants them."

When asked if Asiata was a good communicator in the halves, Morgan said he's not only a good talker, but can organise plays too.

"He's a very natural footballer so he understands the game well. And he's confident enough to get his point across and call the ball or call the play."

In their match against the Rabbitohs to wrap up Magic Round, Morgan showed the touch of a magician when he booted a superb banana kick resulting in a try out wide through Justin O'Neill.

"The kick was on purpose, it was meant to be that type of kick. It was meant to go a little bit further to Feldty [Kyle Feldt], but it worked out better so I'll take it," Morgan said.

When asked if we would see more of those kicks in the future, Morgan was quick to shut the idea down.

"Probably not. I had done a few at training now and then just mucking around and I didn't really think I'd try it in a game, I haven't been hitting them consistently enough to have a go," Morgan said.

Although Feldt wasn't at the receiving end of Morgan's banana kick, he was happy to be back on the field after suffering a groin injury before the season proper.

"Having eight weeks off is not ideal to start a season and then first game back at Suncorp Stadium is always going to be big. I was a little bit rusty and that game was just a stepping stone," Feldt said.

"There's plenty of confidence. We don't doubt our own abilities, we've got to put a full 80-minute period together and that's the hardest part for us so far."

Despite his delayed start to the season, Feldt is an outside chance of forcing his way into the Queensland side for Origin I on June 5 and will do his chances no harm if he can outshine Blues selection hopeful Blake Ferguson in the clash with Parramatta on Saturday night.

Acknowledgement of Country

North Queensland Cowboys respect and honour the Traditional Custodians of the land and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the lands we meet, gather and play on.