Raiders coach Ricky Stuart named Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad on the bench for their crucial clash against the Manly Sea Eagles at Lang Park on Friday night.

But Jarrod Croker will miss the game due to a persistent knee injury.

It's led to Sebastian Kris's (concussion) return to the centres, while Matt Frawley looks to be cover for Tom Starling (jaw), who underwent surgery on Tuesday.

Frawley's become a good-luck omen for the Green Machine, given he hasn't lost an NRL game in almost three years.

The Raiders will have to make the NRL finals for either Starling or Corey Harawira-Naera (suspended) to play again this year.

Starling has an estimated recovery time of 4-6 weeks, but if the Green Machine make the top eight then the 23-year-old would be an outside chance of playing in the first round of the play-offs.

It would also be when Harawira-Naera returned from his three-game suspension for his high shot on Melbourne halfback Jahrome Hughes.

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Starling copped a knock with about 10 minutes to go in the Raiders' loss to the Storm on Thursday, but was able to finish the game.

He hoped to avoid surgery, but went under the knife and his season could be over.

With Siliva Havili carrying a few niggles, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has opted for Frawley on his bench instead - although he does have middle forwards Dunamis Lui and Trey Mooney on the extended bench if he decided to rejig the backline and start Nicoll-Klokstad.

Raiders co-captain Elliott Whitehead felt Stuart would continue to shift Josh Hodgson to lock after initially starting him at hooker - a tactic that's been working for a resurgent Green Machine.

But Hodgson, who plays 80 minutes most games, might have to spend more time at dummy half than usual - he's generally switched to the back row when Starling came on after about 20 minutes.

"I'm sure he'll be looking at options to make sure 'Hodgey' can get into that lock role still as well," Whitehead said.

"I think 'Sticky' will be looking to keep that option up his sleeve and making sure we can fill that role somewhere.

"Whoever does come in I'm sure they can do the job and bring the spark off the bench for us."

Manly coach Des Hasler has named talismanic fullback Tom Trbojevic after there was speculation a fractured cheekbone would rule him out.

But he's escaped a break and only has some swelling to worry about.

It's a massive boost for the Sea Eagles, who were 33.7 points better off with Trbojevic in their team this season.

But Whitehead wasn't bothered by Trbojevic's inclusion.

The Raiders are locked in a seven-team battle for the final two spots in the top eight - sitting in ninth place on points differential alone.

Whitehead said they would need to be beat the best teams come finals time so there was no point looking to shirk the issue now.

"I'm not really bothered if he plays or not. We've still got a job to do. We've got to win," he said.

"He's been an outstanding player for them and he's going to be a big threat if he does play, but it's up to us as a team to shut him down and make sure he doesn't have as big an impact as he has over the last couple of weeks."

NRL ROUND 23

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Manly Sea Eagles at Lang Park, 6pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Sebastian Kris, 4. Matt Timoko, 5. Harley Smith-Shields, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Sia Soliola, 17. Matt Frawley. Reserves: 18. Dunamis Lui, 19. Trey Mooney, 20. Elijah Anderson, 21. Caleb Aekins.

Sea Eagles squad: 1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Morgan Harper, 4. Moses Suli, 5. Reuben Garrick, 6. Kieran Foran, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans, 8. Josh Aloiai, 9. Lachlan Croker, 10. Martin Taupau, 11. Haumole Olakau'atu, 12. Josh Schuster, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Dylan Walker, 15. Karl Lawton, 16. Curtis Sironen, 17. Toafofoa Sipley. Reserves: 18. Jack Gosiewski, 19. Tevita Funa, 20. Kurt De Luis, 21. Cade Cust.