There are four posters in the North Queensland Cowboys rehabilitation room that have transformed what could be Townsville's wailing walls into tributes to the spirit - and perhaps even the madness - of four players who defied shocking injuries to become club legends.

Cowboys physiotherapist Steve Sartori, who has given 18 devoted years to the club, has plastered posters of Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott, Brent Tate and Matt Bowen on the walls of the grand finalists' hurt locker, a bunker of tears, fears and courage.

Beneath each poster Sartori has summed up the characteristics each displayed to return to the brutality of a game that has broken many with a word: "Committed, Courage, Belief, Consistent".

Then, in what appears a sadistic touch, Sartori has listed each of the quartet's injuries and length of time they needed to recover and rebuild. He believes the detail provides the players receiving his help with a speck of light at what sometimes can be a dark and lonely tunnel.

"We've had some players who've had to overcome long-term and nasty injuries, and that will probably keep happening," he said.

"That room is a special place, the players spend a lot of time in there with me in pain. A lot of suffering and torture goes with being in that room.

"I think letting them know other players have been there before them, fought the same battles and come out the other side to go onto big things, is inspiration for them to not give up."

Sartori knows the hardest part of a player's rehabilitation isn't always waiting for the broken bone or shredded tendons to heal.

"A lot of it's mental," he said. "There's anxiety and sometimes depression and then there can be problems with motivation - especially if a player has a long-term injury.

"Sometimes it can be hard to be motivated when you're recovering from injury day upon day, week upon week and there seems no end in sight."

No one outside of their mothers will watch the Cowboys squad put their bodies on the line in the team's attempt to win the club's first grand final with Sartori's level of concern. The man who wears the yellow shirt as North Queensland's on-field trainer admitted it is impossible to enjoy any game he is on duty for.

"I don't watch the game for enjoyment, I'm normally looking at the play that happened the few seconds beforehand to watch the player," he said. "I don't see a lot of the good stuff, I seem to miss that.

"People who don't watch rugby league or understand the game might see highlights on TV and think they're absolute madmen, running into each other at high speed and with no protection.

"I've heard those people ask whether they're crazy? I guess they are, but most players you talk to, the ones who've been around for a while, didn't start out wanting to play for money or for contracts, they played with their mates for fun.

"It's hard for people to realise footy is fun but it is. Footy matters to these guys, to put their body on line means the world to them."

"The players biggest fear is letting their mate down if they don't execute that play or make that tackle," he said. "They're not letting only themselves down in that case but also the guy next to them, the guy they've been training with for nine months of the year and is relying on them.

"That's their biggest fear."

JOHNATHAN THURSTON

R [RIGHT] - ABDUCTOR TENOTOMY/HERNIA REPAIR - 3 MONTHS

R-KNEE ARTHROSCOPY - 1 MONTH

R-SHOULDER RECONSTRUCTION - 6 MONTHS

L-SHOULDER RECONSTRUCTION - 4 MONTHS

R-ANKLE SYNDESMOSIS SCREW - 6 MONTHS

R & L MORTON'S NEUROMA REMOVAL - 3 MONTHS