The Cowboys will be hoping their solid results at home will be enough to quell the exuberance of Cronulla coming to Townsville on the back of three straight victories.
Todd Payten's men had a very unhappy night at 4 Pines Park last week, losing 50-18 after leading 12-0.
But they arrive back at Queensland Country Bank Stadium where they have a 5-2 record and where they've been scoring plenty of tries lately - 12 in total from their past two wins over the Knights and the Warriors.
The Sharks have the top eight in their sights and won't want any more slip-ups like they had against the Panthers last week, when they led 18-0 before scraping home with a Shaun Johnson field goal 19-18.
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Johnson was out injured in the round four 48-10 shellacking of the Cowboys. But Connor Tracey and Will Kennedy will be back again after they had four tries and two try assists between them back in April.
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The rundown
Team news
Cowboys: North Queensland will start 1-17 with Daejarn Asi the 18th man.
Origin debutant Kyle Feldt (back) trained well on Tuesday and is right to play.
Back-rower Mitch Dunn (suspension) is also back in the starting line-up, pushing Coen Hess into the front row and Tom Gilbert to the interchange.
Kane Bradley and Corey Jensen were the first two players cut from the squad 24 hours before kick-off.
The Cowboys have won their past five games at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Sharks: Andrew Fifita drops off the Sharks' interchange, with Braden Hamlin-Uele taking his spot. Billy Magoulias is the 18th man.
Wade Graham has not been named after suffering another head knock at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium last Friday night, with the club committed to an "extra cautious" approach because of their skipper's recent history.
Siosifa Talakai makes his return to the starting line-up in Graham's place with Teig Wilton filling the hole on the interchange.
Chad Townsend and Sione Katoa were the first two players omitted from the squad on Thursday.
The Sharks are aiming for four consecutive wins for the first time since 2018.
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Key match-up
Valentine Holmes v Will Kennedy: Holmes scored a try against his former club last time they met, which was one of the few bright notes for the Cowboys that night.
He comes up against Kennedy, who has played every game for the Sharks this year and dented the scoreboard in most of them with eight tries and eight try assists from his 13 matches. But Holmes is in the top five in the NRL for run metres, making an average of 171 per game - or 50 metres more than Kennedy.
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Stat attack
The Sharks are third in the NRL - behind the Panthers and Eels - for post-contact metres with players like Aaron Woods, Toby Rudolph and Jack Williams able to drag defenders upfield before often finishing off with an off-load. The warm tropics aren't expected to slow them down.
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