Corey Harawira-Naera will be the Raiders' first 18th man under the NRL's new interchange rules, which kick into effect this round as Canberra takes on the red-hot Penrith Panthers in Sydney.
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It edges Harawira-Naera closer to his first NRL match since a drink-driving conviction and two-game ban, but will most likely leave the ex-Canterbury Bulldog sitting on the pine for 80 minutes.
The 18th man will be activated should three players in his side fail head-injury assessments during the course of a match, or if a player is forced to leave the field due to foul play and the perpetrator is either sin binned or sent off.
Otherwise, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart will not be able to inject Harawira-Naera into the contest.
"It's a matter of balancing utility value," Stuart said.
"Corey can play obviously back row, he can play middle if I need it. It also allows me, if I needed to, to have Elliott [Whitehead] play in the centres if there was a problem outside on the edges.
"That type of strategy and thought process has to go into your 18th man.
"It'll be a strategy for each game in regards to what's required, it'll depend upon the balance of your other four players on the bench too.
"This week I've got three middles and a hooker, so it gives me the opportunity now to have an 18th man there if an outside back went down to cover that position because I'm fairly covered in the middle."
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Harawira-Naera copped a two-match suspension from the NRL after being charged with mid-range drink driving over the Christmas break, and was subsequently stripped of his licence for three months.
He's spent the past two weeks in the NSW Cup, without yet breaking into Stuart's top 17.
The league initially flagged the 18th man would have to be an emerging player, but that has been modified to someone who is NRL registered.
They will need to have been named in the 21-man squad provided each Tuesday afternoon, but coaches have until gameday to submit their final decision.
Stuart was particularly in favour of the foul-play element to the new rule.
"The foul play scenario with the 18th man's a no brainer, I'm happy the fact that teams won't be penalised with any act of foul play where you lose a player for the rest of the game," Stuart said.
"It's been mooted around for a fair while and I'm glad they've taken some action upon it. It creates the evenness in the contest when you do lose a player to an incident that allows the other player to stay on the field."
Stuart's charges traveled to Penrith on Thursday.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
