North Queensland Cowboys hooker Josh Chudleigh could miss the entire 2017 season after he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament at pre-season training on Friday.

Chudleigh was in the mix to snare a spot on the bench against Canberra in round one, but scans confirmed the bad news.

“He ruptured his ACL at a training session on Friday morning, it was a non contact injury,” Cowboys football manager Peter Parr said.

“It’s going to be a long recovery.”