Cowboys confirm extent of injury to forward

The North Queensland Cowboys have confirmed prop Thomas Mikaele will miss at least the next six weeks with a medial injury of his knee.

The prop was injured in a cannonball tackle during the Cowboys' loss to the Newcastle Knights in the Las Vegas season opener.

The tackle saw Knights' forward Tyson Frizell make contact with the lower part of Mikaele's leg, but surprisingly wasn't sin binned for the field, rather only being penalised and placed on report.

Speaking after the game, coach Todd Payten admitted he wasn't impressed by the lack of sin bin for Mikaele.

"I'm really disappointed with how the Tom Mikaele incident was handled," Payten said on Sunday (Australian time) during his post-match press conference.

"Considering you know, Kalyn gets up and plays on and Tom's out for the next six weeks.

"I'd just like a bit of consistency, but we'll see what happens through the week.

"It (Mikaele's injury) did hurt us. We had to use four interchanges prior to halftime even though the plan was to use three."

Frizell will not face a suspension either, being slapped with a Grade 1 dangerous contact charge that sees him fined $1000.

That will be of little solace for the Cowboys, who are now without their forward for the next six weeks as they attempt to pick up the pieces following their loss to the Knights.

Mikaele will miss games against the Wests Tigers, Gold Coast Titans, Melbourne Storm, St George Illawarra Dragons and Brisbane Broncos over the next six weeks before being slated for a return against the Manly Sea Eagles in Round 7.

The forward's spot on the bench was something of a surprise for the Round 1 encounter, but exactly who claims his spot now could be up in the air, with utility Harrison Edwards, or John Bateman, who was surprisingly overlooked for Round 1, the most likely options.

Payten will confirm his side to face the Tigers on Tuesday afternoon.