Given he's joining Canterbury next year, that means his time in lime green has come to an end - just as it did for Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson (knee), who joins Parramatta in 2023.

But in some positive injury news for Canberra, Joe Tapine (ribs) was expected to play after missing last week's win over St George Illawarra.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said they were fortunate to have depth in their middle forwards to cover Sutton.

Emre Guler has hit form at the right time, while Corey Horsburgh has recovered from a horrifying bout of pneumonia.

That, plus Tapine's return, was a massive boost for the finals hopes as they chase three straight wins to have a chance of playing finals.

That starts against the Newcastle Knights at Newcastle on Sunday.

"Yeah Joe's good. Ryan Sutton will probably be out for the year now," Stuart said.

"He has an operation pending with a ligament in his hand that needs surgery so that will rule him out for the rest of the season.

"Fortunately, we're in a good position in the middles.

"We've got Corey Horsburgh, who has come in and has done a wonderful job since he's come back from pneumonia. I thought he was very strong last week.

"Emre Guler's in some very, very good form and I've got Corey Harawira-Naera there too.

"I've got experience and people in good form.

"It's disappointing for Sutto, probably playing his last game for the club, but he's a very valued member of the team still - he leaves on the note he's playing some of his best football."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

The Raiders fly to Newcastle on a chartered flight following their captain's run on Saturday and will return straight after the game on Sunday night.

They're flying into a storm that's descended on the Hunter this week with their captain Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann target-tested for illicit drugs after a picture emerged of the pair leaving a toilet cubicle together.

Knights coach Adam O'Brien's also under the pump over the team's performance this season, while two players were dropped this week for missing the team bus.

Stuart felt for the Newcastle club and expected them to bounce back - he just doesn't want it to be against them.

"We don't want be the club that cops the sting from a club in a little bit of a difficult situation," he said.

"I feel for the club. They're a great club Newcastle, they always have been.

"They'd be hurting at the moment and they want to get it fixed. And they will."

Part of that will be starting to ice games.

They were 24-12 up against the Dragons on Sunday before letting the visitors back into the game in the final 15 minutes to set up an exciting finish.

"We've got to learn from that. We've got to be able to stay on task and stay to our standards of play and go away with those games," Stuart said.

"It's not something we've done well or consistently over a few years so it's something for the off-season we've got to work on."

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Newcastle Stadium, 4pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Corey Harawira-Naera. Reserves: 18. Albert Hopoate, 19. Ata Mariota, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Ryan Sutton, 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Knights squad: 1. Tex Hoy, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Krystian Mapapalangi, 5. Dominic Young, 6. Anthony Milford, 7. Adam Clune, 8. David Klemmer, 9. Jayden Brailey (C), 10. Daniel Saifiti, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Brodie Jones, 13. Jacob Saifiti. Interchange: 14. Phoenix Crossland, 15. Pasami Saulo, 16. Simi Sasagi, 17. Mathew Croker. Reserves: 18. Sauaso Sue, 19. Chris Randall, 20. Jack Johns, 21. Oryn Keeley, 22. Hymel Hunt.

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