North Queensland enforcer Matt Scott is confident he’ll lead the Cowboys into Saturday’s NRL knockout final against Cronulla despite a broken finger.

In a major boost to the Cowboys, Scott chances of making a speedy comeback rose on Thursday as he took part in training in Townsville.

North Queensland’s co-captain broke his middle finger against the Sharks early in their 31-18 win two weeks ago and was originally ruled out for three weeks.

But Scott said he expected to play after coming through Thursday’s session – 10 days after surgery – without problem.

“I’m pretty confident (of playing),” the Queensland prop told Fox Sports.

“I did most of the session. I can catch the ball okay. Everything works pretty well, and I did a couple of tackles.

“I’m not 100 per cent obviously. I still have to talk to the doc and he has to see how it recovers after today and we’ll probably make a decision tomorrow.”

Scott denied the club would wait until game day as they needed to give his replacement, likely to be Ashton Sims, time to prepare.

Sims’ brother Tariq has little doubt the renowned hard man will play.

“It would be great to have him out there,” the forward said.

“I know it was a pretty serious break but anyone who knows Matt knows that he just wants to play football and a little broken finger wouldn’t stop him.”

Saturday’s elimination final will end a heart-breaking run for Tariq Sims after the 23-year-old was robbed of play-off appearances in the past two seasons due to two different leg fractures.