‘It felt like quicksand’: Cowboys lose Taumalolo as they look to atone for last week’s embarrassing loss

North Queensland’s hopes of bouncing back from last week’s horror show have taken a hit with one of their stars officially ruled out of Friday’s game against the Eels.

The Cowboys have suffered a major setback with veteran lock Jason Taumalolo ruled out of Friday’s game against Parramatta. Picture; Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

The Cowboys have been dealt a massive blow with star forward Jason Taumalolo ruled out of Friday’s game against the Eels.

The Tongan superstar was listed in the reserves with the club hopeful that he’d be back for the first time since Round 7, but coach Todd Payten confirmed on Thursday that the lock forward wouldn’t be a late inclusion.

Taumalolo had surgery on a knee cartilage injury last month and is expected to be back on the paddock next Sunday when the Cowboys host a Storm side that might rest their Origin stars.

Jason Taumalolo has been ruled out of Friday’s game against the Eels after he failed to recover in time from a knee injury. Picture; Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

“He hasn’t come up right to play this week,” Payten said.

“He’s a definite for next week should things not go catastrophically wrong in the next eight days.”

The Cowboys were desperate to have Taumalolo back in the side given they’re without Maroons quartet Valentine Holmes, Murray Taulagi, Tom Dearden and Reuben Cotter for the game at CommBank Stadium against the resurgent Eels.

It makes the task even harder for a side coming off a dismal 66-18 loss to a Wests Tigers team that had been held scoreless the previous week and had scored the fewest points in the competition.

The mauling at Leichhardt Oval taught the Cowboys one valuable lesson, with the team also forced to train at the same venue ahead of Friday’s game.

The Cowboys were embarrassed last week, with their defence falling apart against the Tigers. Picture; Matt King/Getty Images

“You’ve got to win the collision, whether you’re carrying the ball or defending, and we didn’t do that on the weekend,” Payten replied when asked what they learnt from last week’s loss.

“We got outperformed, and outperformed well so a big focus has been on that this week. We also know that seven days is a long time in rugby league, and it’s something we learnt earlier in the season. We’re capable.

“The lads are connected. Everyone was really disappointed.

“At different stages of the game it felt like quicksand where the harder we tried, the worse it got.

“After a sombre couple of days in camp, it was important for us to get around each other and make sure we enjoyed our time together.”