Ricky Stuart won't ask fiery back-rower Joe Tapine to tone down his aggressive style but concedes his suspension will put "a lot of pressure" on his teammates.
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Tapine will miss Canberra's clash against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Canberra Stadium on Friday night after he accepted a two-game ban for a shoulder charge with an early guilty plea.
Stuart loves the 24-year-old's vigorous attitude but says it is important Tapine doesn't "cross the line" in his approach.
"Joey plays very close to the edge all the time and it’s always high risk," Stuart said.
"It’s what we love about Joey, because he is such a very aggressive player and that’s a big part of his make-up, it’s a big part of his game. It’s important that we don’t cross the line too much."
Tapine's absence compounds the loss of hulking front-rower Junior Paulo with a foot injury that will keep him sidelined for up to two months.
Stuart admits it will be difficult to cover the New Zealand international and it has opened the door for Liam Knight to earn a first grade recall against his former club.
Young gun Emre Guler has emerged as an outside chance to make the debut his teammates have been expecting since pre-season.
"It’s always hard. We’ve now got two of our key forwards out and it puts a lot of pressure on our other players," Stuart said.
"I’m looking for my other front-rowers now to really stand up and take some extra workload. Joey, Junior, along with Josh Hodgson leaves a huge hole.
"We’ll take a little bit of the weight of that now and play against a very in-form Manly team."
Josh Papalii will line up in the second-row for the Raiders after entering an early guilty plea on a grade one careless high tackle, with the Canberra lock fined $1350.
The Raiders have a bye following the Manly clash before hosting top four staple Penrith on June 8 - two days after the State of Origin series opener.
NRL ROUND 12
Friday: Canberra Raiders v Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Canberra Stadium, 6pm. Tickets from Ticketek.
Raiders squad: 1. Jack Wighton, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Joseph Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Blake Austin, 7. Aidan Sezer, 8. Dunamis Lui, 9. Siliva Havili, 10. Shannon Boyd, 11. Josh Papalii, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Iosia Soliola. Interchange: 14. Ata Hingano, 15. Luke Bateman, 16. Charlie Gubb, 17. Liam Knight, 18. Emre Guler, 19. Michael Oldfield, 20. Sam Williams, 21. Craig Garvey.
Sea Eagles squad: 1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jorge Taufua, 3. Moses Suli, 4. Brian Kelly, 5. Akuila Uate, 6. Trent Hodkinson, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans (c), 8. Addin Fonua-Blake, 9. Lewis Brown, 10. Martin Taupau, 11. Joel Thompson, 12. Shaun Lane, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Matthew Wright, 15. Frank Winterstein, 16. Lloyd Perrett, 17. Toafofoa Sipley, 18. Thomas Wright, 19. Bradley Parker, 20. Jack Gosiewski, 21. Tevita Funa.
