Loanee Raider Ryan James will be free to play for Canterbury again this weekend, despite his grade one dangerous contact charge on Chanel Harris-Tavita during Sunday's loss to the New Zealand Warriors.
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James and fellow Raider Corey Horsburgh are expected to play their second games for the Bulldogs against Newcastle on Saturday, rather then be recalled to the Green Machine to cover the loss of suspended forward Corey Harawira-Naera, and back-up hooker Tom Starling.
The pair are expected to return to the Raiders fold for the final two weeks of the season, at which point suspended duo Jack Hetherington and Dylan Napa will be available once more for the battling Bulldogs.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart will delve further into the depths of his roster when he names his side on Tuesday for Friday's crunch clash with Manly.
He still has Dunamis Lui available, while Silivi Havili is in the mix to play his first NRL match since round nine.
Stuart is also close to being able to recall Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad who has recovered from a neck injury when initially had the club fearing he would miss the rest of this season.
Should he be given one more week on the sidelines, Harley Smith-Shields will retain his spot on the wing where he's performed solidly for the last three matches.
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He said several Raiders players gathered together on Sunday to watch James and Horsburgh in action for the Bulldogs.
"It was funny seeing them in the blue and white colours, it was a little bit different, it was probably the first Dogs game I've watched all year actually," Smith-Shields said.
"We see the Dogs a fair bit actually because their team rooms are right next to ours.
"Whenever we're going to get dinner at the buffet we do bump into them quite a bit, you say g'day and stuff like that. When we're around here we're all mates."
Smith-Shields was drafted in for the round 19 clash with Parramatta and has retained his spot since then, despite fearing earlier in the season that he wouldn't play NRL in 2021 due to a biceps injury.
"I'm just grateful to be able to play some footy, especially after last year I didn't get to play many games," the 21-year-old Gungahlin Bulls junior said.
"When I did my bicep at the start of the year it wasn't looking too good.
"It was a tough rehab, it was a long one. Ten weeks so you don't really know where the finish line is, you've just got to take it day by day really you can't really look too far ahead.
"I was just trying to get it healed as quickly as I could to be honest, I didn't think I'd be playing first grade at the back end of the year.
"The physios and the rehab coach were getting pretty sick of me asking when I can start training. I'm definitely finding my rhythm still a little bit I think, but building confidence week in week out."
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.
