Scott Drinkwater will get his shot at North Queensland's No.1 jersey as new coach Todd Payten considers shifting Valentine Holmes to the wing.
Drinkwater will play mostly at fullback in the Cowboys' only trial against Brisbane on Saturday night, after training there for part of the pre-season.
That is likely to leave Holmes out on an edge, after he battled to re-find his best in the No.1 jersey last season on his return to the sport from the NFL.
Drinkwater was considered a fullback when he moved to North Queensland from Melbourne in 2019, after only injuries cost him the Storm's No.1 spot.
However he moved into the halves last season with Holmes' big-money arrival at the club, and admitted on Tuesday he'd rather stay at five-eighth if given the option.
But regardless, the 23-year-old has spent the majority of his pre-season at the back with Jake Clifford the other option.
"I'll be playing a bit at fullback and I've been been five eighth and at half," Drinkwater said.
"I know I was going to train both in the halves and at fullback but a couple of injuries happened and there's not much depth there.
"So it just turned out that I kind of had to stay there for most of the pre-season.
"It's a lot more running so I have really had to push myself to get my fitness levels up."
This season shapes as a crucial one for Drinkwater, given he is one of 13 Cowboys off contract at the end of the year.
"You want to get a contract," Drinkwater said.
"But I'll back myself and I think over the past year being off contract I've probably played my best footy so I'm confident that I'll be able to step up."
Payten has instilled a faster, higher paced style of football over the summer in Townsville and a fitter Cowboys outfit will be on show against the Broncos in the Alex Glenn testimonial match.
"We want play fast and build pressure," Drinkwater added.
"In recent years we've been known to make a lot of errors and get caught, or been called pretty slow and old.
"So we want to change that and be a fast moving team and build pressure early on."
