The Canberra Raiders will give hooker Josh Hodgson and prop Paul Vaughan every chance to prove their fitness for Sunday's match with the Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has named an unchanged team from the one flogged 36-6 by the Parramatta Eels at Pirtek Stadium last weekend.
Hodgson sustained thumb and knee injuries while Vaughan played through a badly sprained ankle.
The depth of the Raiders' forward pack is already being tested with Sia Soliolia and Jeff Lima sidelined for another four to six weeks.
"We're starting to run dry in the front row and injuries are hurting us a little bit," Stuart said.
"We've got fingers crossed Paul will be OK.
"I'll name the boys who are in doubt, but I'll make decisions on them later in the week."
Hodgson is extremely important to the Raiders and is leading the Dally M Medal standings with 10 votes through the opening six games.
The English international provides great vision in attack around the ruck and gets through plenty of work in defence.
"I'm hoping he'll be OK, he's been such an important part of the team in the start of the season," Stuart said.
"I think the thumb is worse than the knee.
"He controls the ruck very well, he's a great asset to our two halves as well.
"We were a bit off on the weekend, we have to fix that."
The Raiders were a shadow of the side that defended superbly in a gritty 22-8 win against the Canterbury Bulldogs at Belmore Oval in the previous round.
"We'll get a bit of training under our belt this week and eradicate a few flaws in our attack," Stuart said.
"We were poor in a number of areas, our attack and our defence.
"We were a completely opposite football team that we were the previous week."
Stuart is expecting a physical contest against a powerful Sharks forward pack and plans for interchange forward Luke Bateman to play a bigger role.
"He didn't get a lot of minutes, but he'll certainly be getting more this weekend," Stuart said.
In positive news, Raiders forwards Shaun Fensom and Joe Tapine are free to play after accepting early guilty pleas for a grade one dangerous tackle.
"It was just one of those unfortunate incidents, as soon as his legs came off the ground I tried to back pedal and get out of it as soon as possible," Fensom said.
"Cronulla are on a bit of a roll and they have some big forwards with [Andrew] Fifita and [Paul] Gallen back playing for them, they get a lot of metres and we have to shut them down.
"It was lucky me and [Tapine] got off otherwise we would be in a bit of strife, we've got Luke Bateman, who played some good minutes and showed some promising form.
"We're very disappointed with our efforts and we'll be looking to redeem ourselves this weekend."
Fensom passed a concussion test on Tuesday after copping a big shot against the Eels.
The Sharks have made one change to the team which beat the Titans 25-20 - second-rower Jayson Bukuya returns to the starting side after missing the game with a finger injury.
He replaces the suspended Luke Lewis.
SUNDAY: NRL round seven: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium, 2pm.
Raiders: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Shannon Boyd, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Frank-Paul Nuuausala, 11. Josh Papalli, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Shaun Fensom. Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste, 15. Luke Bateman, 16. Paul Vaughan, 17. Joe Tapine.
Sharks: 1. Ben Barba. 2. Sosaia Feki. 3. Jack Bird. 4. Ricky Leutele. 5. Valentine Holmes. 6. James Maloney. 7. Chad Townsend. 8. Andrew Fifita. 9. Michael Ennis. 10. Sam Tagataese. 11. Jayson Bukuya. 12. Wade Graham. 13. Paul Gallen. Interchange: 14. Gerard Beale. 15. Chris Heighington. 16. Matt Prior. 17. Joseph Paulo
