With James Roberts (Achilles) and Tom Trbojevic (hamstring) already out injured, Parramatta winger Blake Ferguson added himself to the list with a rib injury.

Cotric and Ferguson were already in the frame for Blues coach Brad Fittler to call upon and now the Canberra 20-year-old is looking more and more likely.

He was 19^th man for the Blues in Origin I last year and has continued to impress. 

Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker said Cotric used to be a right-edge player as a junior and backed him to be able to play either wing if required.

"He definitely can. He actually played all his juniors on the right side, I think," Croker said.

"He handles everything that's thrown at him, I imagine he'll be able to play right edge with ease.

"He actually carries the ball in his right hand with a left-hand fend so he'll be able to handle that for them."

They might have trimmed down, but that hasn't stopped the Green Machine forward pack from imposing themselves yet again.

They've gotten one over both of their former big boppers now - taking down Gold Coast recruit Shannon Boyd in round one and now Eels prop Junior Paulo in round five.

Josh Papalii (179), Ryan Sutton (135), Sia Soliola (131), Siliva Havili (112), John Bateman (138) and Dunamis Lui (106) all ran for more than 100m, while the only Eels forwards who managed it were Junior Paulo (112) and Daniel Alvaro (111).

Next test: the Brisbane pack - the so-called best young pack in the NRL.

The continued good form of Sam Williams is not only keeping Aidan Sezer out of the Raiders team, but it also raises another conundrum - do the Raiders now look to re-sign him?

Williams is off contract at the end of the year, but is staking a claim for an extension.

Further muddying the waters is the fact the Raiders are close to signing Wigan halfback George Williams on a three-year deal with just a transfer fee standing between him joining the Green Machine next season.

The Raiders came with a clear plan to try to minimise the impact of Eels workhorse winger Blake Ferguson.

Rather than avoid him with their kicking game they went high, through the booming Jack Wighton left boot, and chased hard.

Wighton himself was leading that charge, like a man possessed as he continues to impress in his transformation into a five-eighth.

It was one of those high kicks that compounded Ferguson's chest injury and forced him from the field early in the second half.

He was crunched in the tackle and was immediately in discomfort.