LIVE: The ‘impossible’ task Cowboys must avoid

Queensland great Darren Lockyer believes the Cowboys need to put in a “statement” performance in one of their last three regular-season matches if they are to factor in the finals.

Heading into round 25, the Cowboys sit ninth and are locked in a tight battle for the bottom half of the eight.

The Cowboys put a run of six-straight wins together before back-to-back losses to the Titans and Broncos.

But they head into tonight’s clash with the Sharks fresh from a bye.

“The last couple of weeks, they’ve been poor,” Lockyer said on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER.

“They’re coming off the bye, so let’s hope for their sake that does the trick, but (those) two performances were (not of) a finals team.

“They need to turn it around and … there’s no better way to do it than against a red-hot Sharks (outfit).”

After the Sharks game, the Cowboys finish the home-and-away season with a trip to Brisbane to take on the Dolphins before heading to Penrith to take on the Panthers.

The Cowboys would likely need to win two of these three games to progress to the finals.

Lockyer said travelling to Penrith needing to win would be “mission impossible”.

“You don’t want to … make it on the numbers. You’ve gotta find a game where you make a statement going into the finals where it not just puts the rest of the competition on notice, but it actually instils belief in your players,” he said.

“The Sharks game at home is obviously a big opportunity, and the next big opportunity really is the Panthers away, (but) that’s like mission impossible.”

Should the Panthers lock up the minor premiership before round 27, they may repeat their final-round antics from last season and rest players. This could give the Cowboys an outside chance of a win and a spot in the eight.

Round 25 kicks off at 7.50pm.