Green no certainty to take on desperate Cowboys

The New Zealand Warriors will leave it up to halfback Blake Green to decide whether or not he is fit to face the Cowboys on Saturday at Mt Smart Stadium.

Green withdrew from the side minutes before kick-off in last week's 28-24 loss to the Rabbitohs due to a groin injury, but the experienced play-maker has managed to participate in some parts of training this week.

Warriors assistant coach Todd Payten said a decision would be made following Friday's captain's run, with Green to have the final say.  

"With 'Greeny' and his experience, he will be the determining factor on whether he is right to play," Payten said.

"Whether the medical team think he can do it, he's got to know within himself whether he is right to kick, tackle, run, and he will know best.

"Greeny trained yesterday and had physio today. He's going to run [Friday] and we are going to make a call after that.

"I'm only going off what's come out of his mouth and he's pretty confident. Given that he's well experienced, he probably understands where he's at better than someone [who has played] 50 games or less."

The news was clearer on centre Solomone Kata, who sat out contact work this week due to a cork above his knee, with the Mate Ma'a Tonga international expected to be declared fit to face the Cowboys.

Despite going down to the Rabbitohs last week, in a game they led by 12 with 20 minutes to play, the Warriors were encouraged by the performance of their forward pack.

Prop Leeson Ah Mau told NRL.com that footing it with the South Sydney's big men had given his side plenty of confidence ahead of facing the representative-laden North Queensland pack.

"The boys really stood up against an experienced set of forwards last week and it'll be the same situation this week in terms of it being won in the middle, so we need to back it up," Ah Mau said.

"It's a challenge for us this week, we know we have got a big task ahead of us.

"There's a lot of experience in the Cowboys' pack, a lot of internationals, so for us we just need to make sure we are working hard and working together."

Meanwhile head coach Stephen Kearney said even with some notable names missing from their team list, the Cowboys weren't to be underestimated.

With Jason Taumalolo (knee) and Kyle Feldt (groin) already out, the Cowboys lost winger Nene Macdonald to a season-ending ankle injury last week, but are boosted by the return of experienced forward Scott Bolton from suspension. 

"I'm not so fussed about who they haven't got, I'm really worried about who they have got," Kearney said.

"Matt Scott has played for Australia, Jordan McLean has played for Australia, Josh Maguire played has for Australia, Michael Morgan has played for Australia.

"They have got a good footy team and are going to be very, very desperate."