It took North Queensland 11 years with Johnathan Thurston before they finally won a premiership, so it makes sense that they can't win another one so quickly without him, right?

Wrong. Not in the NRL, where a lot more things are possible than we're sometimes prepared to accept when trying to figure out who can and can't win the premiership.

Cowboys will have to do it without both Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Don't forget, it was only last year that Canberra went within an ace of making the grand final, losing 14-12 on the road again Melbourne in the preliminary final.

Look at the Raiders this year. Practically the same team, but they've played like bums for most of the season and their coach, Ricky Stuart, has been reduced to complaining about, well, everything else as a distraction.

The 10th-placed Raiders might kid themselves they can still make the finals, but in reality they're gone. You wouldn't have thought this Canberra side were genuine contenders last season, but they obviously were.

Melbourne are first on the table and really do stand out among the 16 teams, but mortality is never far away - even for them.

Last weekend, their fans looked on horrified as two of their three superstar players -- captain Cameron Smith and fullback Billy Slater -- were forced to leave the field.

Smith sustained a pectoral muscle injury and Slater was knocked out by a late and high hit from Sia Soliola that resulted in the Raiders forward being suspended for five games.

Slater is being held out from Sunday's home game against Manly while he recovers from a severe concussion.

Smith was originally tipped to be out for four-to-six games. Then that was revised to one or two games. Then he was named to start against the Sea Eagles.

The champion hooker's ability to quickly recover from injuries was already renowned and unless there is a late decision that he is not quite ready, he will add to the legend.

Cameron Smith Matt King/Getty Images

But the scares over Smith and Slater are a reminder that teams are often one bad injury to a key player away from their premiership hopes being severely dented.

And if Melbourne were to suffer such a major setback affecting one of their "big three" - halfback Cooper Cronk being the other member of that triumvirate - which other team might be the most likely to benefit?

The answer is that, outside of the Storm, it looks pretty open among a number of sides -- and the Cowboys are one of them.

Finishing the regular season in the top four will again probably be crucial, but fifth-placed North Queensland have still got that chance.

And while halfback Thurston being gone for the rest of the season because of a shoulder injury is obviously a big negative for them, it doesn't necessarily spell death for their chances as it would have so easily done in previous seasons.

Here are five good reasons why:

1. Dramatically improved record without Thurston

It used to be that the Cowboys had a very low winning percentage without the future Immortal, but as great a player as he still is, they're much better equipped to handle his absence now.

They have a win-loss record of 5-2 with Thurston this season and 7-4 without him. They are currently on a four-game winning streak minus the great man.

Of course, they would much rather have him there, but the knowledge that they can win without him should be a driving force for them over the closing rounds.

Timely addition to the Cowboys, Te Maire Martin. Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

2. The addition of Te Maire Martin

As it turned out, due to Thurston's season-ending injury, the timing of the young five-eighth's switch from Penrith to the Cowboys couldn't have been better.

Michael Morgan has moved to halfback and between them the pair have got the attacking bases pretty well covered.

Martin has played three games for the Cowboys now and come up with two tries and two line-breaks. He's putting pressure on the opposition defence and looking very dangerous when he runs the ball.

3. Jason Taumalolo's blockbusting form

It's up to other players to help pick up the slack when a champion player goes down, if the team is going to survive. Taumalolo is doing that in magnificent fashion at lock.

He is a human wrecking ball and the casualties are defenders who get run over by him in his trademark charges down the centre of the field.

Taumalolo has run for a whopping 3252 metres in 16 games this season, at an average of 203.3 metres per game. He is, as they say, on fire.

Jason Taumalolo Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

4. The rise of Coen Hess

The massive second-rower is breaking out all over this season, to the extent that he is now a Queensland State of Origin player even though he still doesn't turn 21 until next month.

The Cowboys are still playing him off the bench at the moment and it must be an awful sight for tired opposition to see him approach the sideline as a fresh man coming on.

Hess has a tremendous try-scoring rate for a forward, with 11 from his 17 games this season. He also has nine line-breaks and 10 offloads and has run for 1908 metres at an average of 112.2 per game. What a specimen.

5. Plenty of grand final-winning experience remains

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From the 17-man squad that won the 2015 grand final against Brisbane, 12 are still there in the squad named for Saturday night's huge game against second-placed Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium.

Representative prop Matt Scott, who tore his ACL back in round two, is out for the season along with Thurston, but backs Morgan, Lachlan Coote, Kyle Feldt, Justin O'Neill, Kane Linnett and Antonio Winterstein and forwards Taumalolo, Jake Granville, Gavin Cooper, Ethan Lowe, John Asiata and Scott Bolton remain. So does coach Paul Green.

The Roosters have got their own challenges at the moment, with Jake Friend, Boyd Cordner and Michael Gordon all out, and the Cowboys have a 6-3 record in away games this season. It promises to be a very interesting clash.