Croker's 2022 season's over, with the 31-year-old set to undergo surgery on his right shoulder after dislocating it for the second time last week.

Once again injury's threatening to end his record-breaking career on 292 NRL games as his struggles over the past 18 months continued.

Knee, back and now shoulder problems have limited him to just 13 games over the past two seasons, after having very few injury concerns previously in his 14-year career.

There's no rush for Croker to get surgery, given he won't be back this season, and he'll go under the knife in the coming weeks.

Then he'll have plenty of time to contemplate his future during his rehabilitation.

The pair have played together since the Englishman's arrival in Canberra in 2016 and they've shared the captaincy since Josh Hodgson relinquished it last year.

Whitehead hoped Croker would be back in lime green next season.

Croker's a revered figure in the Raiders camp, not just for everything he's achieved on the football field - he's the Raiders' all-time leading point and try scorer, and was third overall for points scored in the history of the game - but because of the type of person he was off it as well.

"I think he'll have a little break away from rugby now and take his mind off things, spend some time with his family," Whitehead said.

"Hopefully he can get his head back and rehab hard, and get fit for next year.

"He means a lot to this club and what he's done over the years - well not many people have done that at this club.

"For me hopefully he does get back playing and can reach that 300 for the club because he deserves it.

"He's one of those people that really does deserve it."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Croker met the surgeon this week after dislocating his shoulder for the second time.

He did it the first time saving a try in the dying minutes of the win over the Canterbury Bulldogs in round nine.

Croker was on the verge of returning against Parramatta last weekend, but re-injured his shoulder reaching for the TV remote on the day he was named in the side.

It meant he needed surgery and the Bulldogs game will be his only NRL game of the year.

A chronic knee problem limited him to just 12 games last season.

He underwent stem-cell surgery in the off-season, which appeared to solve the problem and had him on the verge of starting round one against Cronulla.

But a bulging disc flared up and forced him to miss the start of the campaign.

After six weeks playing NSW Cup he finally got the call up to the NRL to face the Bulldogs before injury struck again.

NRL ROUND 13

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Sydney Roosters at Canberra Stadium, 4pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Matt Frawley, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Corey Horsburgh, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Corey Harawira-Naera, 17. Trey Mooney. Reserves: 18. James Schiller 19. Harry Rushton, 20. Adrian Trevilyan, 21. Brad Schneider.

Roosters squad: 1. Joseph Manu, 2. Billy Smith, 3. Paul Momirovski, 4. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Joseph Suaalii, 6. Sam Walker, 7. Luke Keary, 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9. Drew Hutchison, 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho, 11. Angus Crichton, 12. Sitili Tupouniua, 13. Nat Butcher. Interchange: 14. Connor Watson, 15. Fletcher Baker, 16. Egan Butcher, 17. Terrell May. Reserves: 18. Lachlan Lam, 19. Daniel Suluka-Fifita, 20. Adam Keighran, 21. Tom Carr, 22. Ben Marschke.

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