JUST a day after Graham Murray quit as coach, the Cowboys are set to receive a boost with the re-signing of Queensland and Australia prop Carl Webb today.

Murray, who has overseen the most successful period in North Queensland's 14-year history, became the first NRL coach to depart his club in 2008 when he announced his resignation after months of speculation that he had fallen out with some of his star players.

Assistant coach Ian Millward is expected to take over for the remainder of the season after both the Cowboys and Raiders ruled out the possibility of a swap between the former St Helens and Wigan mentor and Canberra's Neil Henry, who has already signed a deal to replace Murray in Townsville next year.

It is an opportunity for Millward, who has been Murray's No.2 since returning home to Australia last year, to show why he should be head coach at an NRL club before joining the Raiders next season to work with Henry's inexperienced replacement, David Furner.

North Queensland chief executive Peter Parr said he was confident the club could turn around their on-field fortunes with the change of coach after winning just three of their opening 10 matches under Murray, but warned the players it was now up to them to perform.

The Cowboys are set to receive an immediate lift in morale today, with Webb understood to have agreed to a new two-year deal to remain at the club.

The Test prop was with fellow North Queensland Origin stars Johnathan Thurston and Jacob Lillyman in the Maroons camp on the Gold Coast when Murray addressed his players to tell them yesterday would be his last day at the club.

"They're the same as most people. You're not coming with any great news - I don't think, anyway - but they're accepting of the situation," Murray said. "You're in a professional sport where demands have to be met as a coach and if you're not up near the top of the table, then something has got to give.

"The buck stops with me and, unfortunately, we're 15th on the ladder. I don't think anyone wants to be there. I don't feel comfortable about losing four in a row, and I'm sure the club doesn't and the players don't. So in the best interests of the club, I'm going to move aside."

Having been told before the season started that his contract would not be renewed, Murray had insisted he would not walk away prematurely. But he revealed yesterday he had been considering his future for at least a week as the Cowboys slumped to second last on the ladder.

"It's been on my mind for a couple of weeks," he told a press conference in Townsville. "It certainly wasn't an easy decision but I've tossed it around in my head … I think the club is a great club. It might sound corny, but I do love the club, and I think the best way is for me to step aside and give someone else a go to try and get us back up to where we were.

"Once upon a time, I did say I wouldn't walk away. But this is about a club, it's not about an individual … and the best interests for the club is for me to resign. I know that."

Murray's announcement sparked immediate speculation that the Cowboys would try to encourage Henry to join the club as soon as full-time in last night's match against South Sydney in Canberra, but both clubs insisted that would not happen.

Meanwhile, former NSW Origin captain Wayne Pearce yesterday urged the Bulldogs to try and sort out their problems with Sonny Bill Williams and said he doubted the 22-year-old superstar's concerns are purely monetary.

"I would be surprised if it is just dollars and cents with Sonny Bill," Pearce said of Williams, who is considering seeking a release from the five-year deal he signed with the Bulldogs last season. "But I think the players are entitled to get the best deal that they possibly can."

In judiciary news, Penrith teenager Sam McKendry's NRL debut has been soured after the match review committee yesterday charged him with dropping his knees into an opponent.

McKendry, a contracted under-20s prop, was slapped with a grade-one dropping-knees charge and faces a two-week suspension. The 18-year-old Junior Kiwi rep player can accept a one-match ban with an early guilty plea.