It's North Queensland's hottest ticket of the year, and seats to the Cowboys' NRL grand final qualifier against the Eels are expected to quickly sell out.
About 25,000 people will pack Townsville's stadium on Friday night for the city's first home preliminary final.
Tickets go on sale for Cowboys members at 10am today, before a public release on Tuesday.
Accommodation across the city is already booking out, with some fans preparing to travel thousands of kilometres to attend the match.
Long-time Cowboys supporter Chloe Ebert is eager to make the five-and-a-half-hour journey from her home in Port Douglas to watch the game in person.
"Whether we can get tickets or not will be a different story," she said.
"I think it will be difficult … it's like winning Willy Wonka's golden ticket."
Friday's game will mark the furthest the Cowboys have progressed in the NRL competition since 2017, when they lost the grand final to the Melbourne Storm.
The club has warned fans to be wary of unofficial ticket sellers who could seek to profit from the sold-out match.
"I'd be surprised if [tickets] lasted much longer than a couple of hours," Cowboys general manager of football Michael Luck said.
Ms Ebert said if she managed to secure a seat, it would be the biggest game she had ever seen.
"There was a lot of talk that we were going to be the [wooden] spooners at the beginning of the year, and I fought black and blue I was like 'no we're not'," she said.
"If we win the next one, we go to the grand final and it proves everyone else wrong."
Townsville hostel owner Cathy Kenneally said accommodation providers across the city were being inundated by people hoping to secure tickets to the final.
"We're completely booked on that night, and every day we're taking phone calls of people looking for accommodation on the night of the 23rd," Ms Keneally said.
"It's totally wonderful — the football matches are well-patronised and it just brings a really uplifting feel to the city."
Townsville sports store manager Greg Fazel said Cowboys merchandise had been flying off the shelves ahead of the game.
"People up this way are fanatical," he said.
"Go back to 2015 and 2017 — anything with Cowboys on it we could sell."
Mr Fazel said he had just received a delivery of hundreds of new Cowboys jerseys and shirts.
"We'll sell out of all of it," he said.
"The better the Cowboys have gone this year, the stock has been selling really, really well — to be honest it's been selling that well it's hard to get."
