North Queensland Cowboys enforcer Jason Taumalolo has wound up in the sin bin during the first half of the club's preliminary final against the Parramatta Eels on Friday evening.

Just 15 minutes into the game, play was stopped seemingly innocuously with Parramatta second rower Isaiah Papali'i needing to be taken for a head injury assessment.

Papali'i would pass the test and was able to return to the game in an enormous boost to the blue and gold.

Taumalolo would then be called out by referee Grant Atkins and sat down for ten minutes in the sin bin, with replays then revealing that he has delivered a shoulder charge directly to the head of Papali'i.

The North Queensland forward has already received two NRL judiciary charges this year, meaning he is now incredibly unlikely to be able to play in the grand final if the Cowboys manage to win.

A Grade 1 dangerous contact or careless high tackle charge would attract a fine for Taumalolo, however, any other charge - including a Grade 1 shoulder charge - would attract a suspension.

With an early guilty plea, a Grade 1 shoulder charge would attract a three-match suspension, while a Grade 2 offence would bring with it four matches, and a Grade 3 taking it up to five matches.

A careless high tackle or dangerous contact charge of Grade 2 or higher would bring with it a minimum of three matches on the sidelines, meaning Taumalolo is at the very least likely to need to fight for a downgrade.

It also means Taumalolo is now likely to miss the opening matches of the Rugby League World Cup for Tonga, although he would be able to use a warm-up game against France to act as one of his suspension matches.

The Eels led the game by 12 points to 10 at the time of publishing, with around quarter of an hour remaining in the first half.