North Queensland winger Jordan Kahu could miss the rest of the season as he prepares to go under the knife on Wednesday to repair his eye socket.
Kahu suffered a fracture during the Cowboys' win over the Roosters on Sunday, and will now be sent in for surgery.
While coach Paul Green is hopeful Kahu's season isn't over, he isn't too sure how long the recovery process will be.
"It depends on how bad they are and you don't really know that until you go in and operate but they can be only a few weeks," Green said.
"He copped that accidental elbow in the eye and unfortunately he's fractured his eye socket. He's going to get an operation Wednesday."
In the absence of Kahu, Green has named Murray Taulagi to make his NRL debut, with Green excited to see what the 20-year-old winger can do.
"Muzz [Taulagi] has had a bit of a disrupted season himself so I would've liked to have probably used Muzz a little bit earlier," he said.
"He had a good game for Queensland [under 20s] last week so he should be full of confidence and I'm pleased to give him a run.
"He makes pretty good decisions defensively as well so I'm excited about what he can do."
