The Roosters will be without Cordner (concussion) and Daniel Tupou (ankle) when they travel to Townsville to face North Queensland on Thursday.

Robinson confirmed Tupou, who is arguably in career-best form, will have to undergo surgery and be sidelined for eight weeks.

"Amazing, incredible consistent fire over the time that I've been here and just loved by his teammates," Robinson said of Tupou on Wednesday.

"Obviously needs eight weeks and we'll get some of the other guys in."

Cordner has been rested, against his own wishes, having copped a heavy knock late in their extra-time loss to Melbourne last week.

"He just treats himself with disdain the time when he plays," Robinson said.

"There's only one gear for Boyd, so sometimes we have to make a decision to pull back.

"There's been a couple of big weeks in a row, so we get the recovery his body needs to go as hard as he wants to go."

The pair's absence comes a week after the two-time defending premiers lost the services of Victor Radley and Sam Verrills to season-ending ACL injuries.

But Robinson is confident in players stepping in to fill the void, pointing out that he had his entire squad available just twice last year.

"No one knew Sam Verrills last year," he said.

"I had the same questions last year.

"Opportunities get created, and then Sam comes through.

"This creates opportunity. The depth of a squad is important.

"And that's you know that's why teams play between 28- 32 players in a season."

The Roosters take on the Cowboys who have also been hampered by injury, with Justin O'Neill (concussion) and Tom Opacic (knee) unavailable.

North Queensland coach Paul Green made the surprise decision on Tuesday to shift star fullback Valentine Holmes to the wing in favour of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

"I found out last night like everybody else," Robinson said of the Cowboys' backline rejig.

"Obviously we've looked at the last few weeks, at fullback and then obviously his wing play.

"There's no emotion that you attach to any of that.

"You just go back and review some film on how they played in those different positions and defend it.

"That's that's as much energy as we give it."

Australian Associated Press