Canberra Raiders winger Nick Cotric will be out to rescue his NRL career when he returns to first grade on Friday night in Manly.
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In round nine Cotric is set to play just his third NRL game this season after a challenging start to the year, missing selection in favour of young guns Albert Hopoate and James Schiller.
But a string of tough losses for the Raiders has seen Schiller dropped from the wing and Hopoate called up to give young fullback Chevy Stewart a rest, meaning Cotric is back in the No.5 jersey.
This weekend isn't just a chance to secure his spot in top-grade footy again though, it also could be decisive in determining Cotric's NRL future.
It's understood the off-contract 25-year-old from Canberra is in negotiations with the Raiders to re-sign after a rollercoaster couple of years since he returned to the Green Machine in 2022 following a single, less than impressive season with the Bulldogs.
Since moving to Canterbury in 2021 and coming back to the capital, Cotric has scored a total of 14 NRL tries and played just 50 games. Compare that to his first four seasons with the Raiders between 2017-2020 when Cotric played 93 NRL games and scored 46 tries.
Impacted by injuries and form at times well below his usual standards, Cotric statistically had his worst season of his career in 2023, and this year hasn't exactly gone to plan so far either.
Cotric is still young enough to regain the form he had when he was selected for State of Origin in 2019, and with Schiller now Newcastle-bound next season, the door is ajar for him to cement his spot in the NRL lineup again.
A high-pressure NRL return in Brookvale against an in-form Sea Eagles team could be exactly the stage Cotric needs to strut his stuff, especially as he'd be feeling confident coming off a double scored in NSW Cup last weekend.
Coach Ricky Stuart put the challenge down to Cotric to take the opportunity in front of him with both hands, hoping he had grown from his experience grinding away in NSW Cup.
"I've just come out of a meeting and told the boys it's up to them now," Stuart said.
"I've had them in my office telling them why they're in second grade and they've got to be in there next week telling me why they should be in first grade.
"Having Albert, Nick, Emre [Guler] and Elliott [Whitehead] come back, it gives us experience and hopefully the energy that we lacked last week.
"We've got to get rid of last week and change. We need to turn up and win."
Stuart is demanding Canberra's experienced forward pack stand up and lead their side out of a form slump, as their NRL season threatens to quickly unravel.
From a 4-2 start that had them nestled inside the top four, the Raiders have received successive beatings and conceded 74 points in a fortnight as an injury crisis derails any progress.
Meanwhile, their next opponent the Sea Eagles have soared up the table to fourth off the back of a four-game unbeaten run.
Canberra might have started a makeshift halves duo of Ethan Strange and Kaeo Weekes that had just 20 previous games of NRL between them, but that didn't excuse a soft performance through the middle.
Their forwards lacked their usual punch and the side missed a combined 50 tackles, way up on their previous season-high of 37.
Asked what response he wanted from the veteran pack, Stuart said the expectations had been made abundantly clear.
"If you were just in the meeting we had, very high," he said. "Ownership is on every individual, you've got to turn up and play their game.
"You can't rely on three, four or five people ... and that's the young blokes too, they're all talented football players - (so) show me."
With Jordan Rapana (34 years old), Jamal Fogarty (30), Zac Hosking (27) and Corey Horsburgh (26) all out injured, Stuart has had little choice but to adopt a youth policy.
But the Raiders mentor found the young core didn't collectively handle the intensity in the Sharks thrashing, injecting veteran faces such as Whitehead and Cotric back into the line-up as a result.
"We played against a good football team last week and I just feel as though our intensity, for an NRL level, wasn't there," Stuart said.
"[Introducing young players], it's a huge challenge, but I'm big enough to handle that, and I'm making sure staff around me are big enough to handle it.
"We want to win now, but we've also got to coach for the future."
Three of Canberra's next four outings are on the road in what shapes as a season-defining window.
The coach suggested teen fullback Stewart had been left out with those upcoming fixtures in mind after a brutal opening three games in first grade. Stewart was sent back to his home in Sydney for the weekend for a proper rest with family before he returns to Canberra to resume training with the team again.
"I know what I'm doing with Chevy," Stuart said.
"It's about looking after him physically, because he doesn't look out for himself physically. He plays the game very tough for his size."
- with AAP
NRL ROUND NINE
Friday: Canberra Raiders v Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale, 6pm.
Raiders squad: 1. Albert Hopoate, 2. Xavier Savage, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Ethan Strange, 7. Kaeo Weekes, 8. Josh Papali'i, 9. Danny Levi, 10. Joe Tapine (c), 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Morgan Smithies. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ata Mariota, 16. Trey Mooney, 17. Emre Guler. Reserves: 18. Simi Sasagi, 19. Peter Hola, 20. Zac Woolford, 21. James Schiller, 22. Hohepa Puru.
Sea Eagles squad: 1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Tolutau Koula, 4. Reuben Garrick, 5. Tommy Talau, 6. Luke Brooks, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans (c), 8. Taniela Paseka, 9. Lachlan Croker, 10. Josh Aloiai, 11. Ethan Bullemor, 12. Corey Waddell, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Karl Lawton, 15. Toafofoa Sipley, 16. Nathan Brown, 17. Matthew Lodge. Reserves: 18. Aaron Woods, 19. Jakob Arthur, 20. Jaxson Paulo, 21. Ben Condon, 22. Gordon Chan Kum Tong.