NRL: Corey Horsburgh leads Canberra Raiders to big win against Cronulla Sharks

The Big Red produced a big game in Canberra's 36-degree stinker.

His two tries got the Green Machine over the line against the Cronulla Sharks, winning 24-20 in a nailbiter at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.

That extended the Raiders' winning streak against the Sharks to nine, as the home side got its first win of the season.

The Raiders seemed to be cruising before giving their fans a scare, giving up a try with eight minutes to go to set up a grandstand finish.

Horsburgh was excellent when he came off the bench, not only scoring twice - but also slotting in nicely as a link-up ball-player in the middle.

He also made an immediate impact with his defence, helping force a goal-line drop-out with one of his first involvements.

Horsburgh got ex-Raider Royce Hunt, who hes played with in NSW Cup, sent to the sin-bin just before he scored his second try.

He pushed Hunt to the ground, with the Sharks prop responding by throwing a punch.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said both he and Horsburgh were similarly emotional characters - helping the pair understand each other.

He pointed to the fact the 25-year-old was finally injury-free as playing a big role in the prop's form.

"Corey Horsburgh's a very emotional kid and I've got the same type of personality," Stuart said.

"I understand Corey really well and it can let you down on the field - I know it's let me down as a player over the years.

"Corey's working really hard in controlling his emotions. I think he's developing into a mature player that understands what his emotions can do to his game - and it can also help his game too."

The Raiders will be counting the cost of the game, though, hooker Danny Levi breaking his jaw in the opening three minutes.

He came off with blood streaming from his mouth and he went to hospital at half-time - he's facing eight weeks on the sidelines with surgery expected.

Stuart also revealed winger Nick Cotric (hamstring) would be out for 4-6 weeks, having injured himself on Friday.

Albert Hopoate stepped up to do a mountain of work, running for 185 metres, scoring a try, making four tackle busts and being strong in defence.

But Stuart was hopeful Josh Papali'i (calf) would be back to face Newcastle next week, while fullback Xavier Savage (jaw) was still a few weeks away.

"They're saying 4-6 weeks [for Cotric]. We were just doing bit of scrum attack and it happened on our last bit of practice in our session on Friday," Stuart said.

"It's disappointing because Nicky's been playing really well for us."

Tom Starling came off the bench to play a massive 77-minute game at dummy-half.

He made a whopping 55 tackles in a big stint in the middle.

With Levi out for a couple of months, Zac Woolford's the obvious replacement if Stuart opts for a dummy half on the bench.

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"Getting the win makes you feel 10-times better," Starling said.

"I come prepared to play 80 minutes and more if I need to every game - anything can happen - from arriving here and [injuries] in warm-ups, I've seen it happen, people going down.

"Unfortunately Danny went down - I hope he's alright, he's been raced off to hospital.

"He's been big for us to start two games and it's sad to see him go down."

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 24 (Corey Horsburgh 2, Albert Hopoate, Matt Timoko tries; Jamal Fogarty 4 goals) bt CRONULLA SHARKS 20 (Will Kennedy, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Jesse Ramien, Briton Nikora tries; Braydon Trindall 2 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Ashley Klein. Crowd: 14,134.

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