The North Queensland Cowboys were brought down to earth on Saturday evening as the Sydney Roosters ran out 28-4 winners, but it's a knee injury to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow which will have the home side and coach Todd Payten more concerned.

On a night when the Cowboys had all of Tom Gilbert, Griffin Neame and Chad Townsend spend time in the sin bin, and were trailing 20 points to nothing at halftime, Tabuai-Fidow was taken off the field with 24 minutes to go in the game.

In what seemed like an innocuous tackle at the time, Tabuai-Fidow collected a high ball before being hit by Kevin Naiqama, his knee making first contact with the turf.

He got up ginger from the collision though and was taken from the field.

Fox Sports sideline reporter Corey Parker later confirmed that Tabuai-Fidow had injured his PCL, with scans to confirm the grade of the injury in the coming days.

It's expected that the star Cowboys fullback will miss anywhere between three and six weeks, pending the severity.

In his absence, Peta Hiku played at fullback through to the end of the match, another surprising call from Payten given Valentine Holmes, who played in the number one jersey during 2021 for the men from Townsville was also playing in the centres.

With Tabuai-Fidow now to miss the upcoming games most certainly against the New Zealand Warriors and Canberra Raiders in the next fortnight (both away) but also potentially a home clash against the Gold Coast Titans and an away clash against the Parramatta Eels, Payten has numerous options available.

He could send one of Peta Hiku or Valentine Holmes to fullback, but he could also call dumped half Scott Drinkwater into the team, who has played fullback at NRL level previously.

Backline utility Brendan Elliott will also serve as an option, as well Daejarn Asi, who is believed to be not all that far away from being in Payten's first choice 17.

Tabuai-Fidow had a somewhat poor showing during his 57 minutes of game time, only running the ball on four occasions.