Payne to return for North Queensland

North Queensland Toyota Cowboys coach Neil Henry has selected a 19-man squad for Friday night's round 24 NRL match against the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.

Hooker Aaron Payne, who missed the loss against the Brisbane Broncos last Friday night, has been named to make his return after suffering a minor fracture to his eye socket in a training mishap last Tuesday.

Back-rower Joel Riethmuller, who signed a new two-year contract with the Cowboys this week, has been included on a six-man interchange bench which also includes back-up hooker James Segeyaro who limped off the field on Friday night with a sprained ankle.

Segeyaro started at hooker on Friday night in Payne's absence.

The Cowboys remain in fourth position on the NRL ladder on 30 points, one clear of St George Illawarra, and are coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this year.

South Sydney is in ninth place, one win out of the top eight, with three rounds remaining.

Friday night's game will kick off at 7.35pm.

Cowboys officials are still working with representatives from WIN Television to have the match telecast live in Queensland outside of Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Channel Nine has elected to show the Storm-Dragons game as the live TV match in South-East Queensland.

North Queensland Toyota Cowboys:

1. Matthew Bowen, 2. Ashley Graham, 3. Brent Tate, 4. Willie Tonga, 5. Kalifa Faifai Loa, 6. Ray Thompson, 7. Johnathan Thurston (c), 8. Matthew Scott (c), 9. Aaron Payne, 10. James Tamou, 11. Gavin Cooper, 12. Glenn Hall, 13. Dallas Johnson
Interchange: 14. James Segeyaro, 15. Tariq Sims, 16. Scott Bolton, 17. Ashton Sims, 18. Cory Paterson, 19 Joel Riethmuller (two to be omitted).