The good news for Danny Levi is he didn't lose any teeth. The bad news is he'll undergo surgery on a broken jaw and will miss eight to 10 weeks.
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It's a big blow for Levi and the Canberra Raiders after the Samoa international joined the club and claimed the starting hooker role.
But the Raiders pointed to last year, when Zac Woolford formed a hooking partnership with Tom Starling in the Green Machine's charge to the finals.
Woolford is the obvious replacement for Levi when Raiders coach Ricky Stuart names his team on Tuesday to face the Newcastle Knights at Newcastle next weekend.
Levi will have surgery on Tuesday and will be out until at least round 12.
The 27-year-old broke his jaw tackling Cronulla behemoth Braden Hamlin-Uele just 90 seconds into the Raiders' win and he immediately knew he was in trouble.
He went to hospital at half-time - when a search was undertaken on the ground to try to find his missing teeth. In the end it turned out he hadn't lost any.
It meant Starling played almost 78 minutes in a marathon effort where he made 54 tackles and had two try assists.
He said he came to every game ready to play 80 minutes, regardless of what his role was.
Starling was charged with grade-one dangerous contact on Matt Moylan, when the Sharks five-eighth kicked the ball in the 23rd minute.
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He took the early guilty plea and will pay a $750 fine.
"We've got Zac, which is a big help for us. We've got some really good dummy-halves here at the club," Starling said.
"Whatever 'Stick' goes with this week we know we've got the team to continue forward and keep pressing the competition."
It capped a tough couple of days for the Green Machine on the injury front, winger Nick Cotric (hamstring) also set to spend an extended time on the sidelines.
He'll miss at least a month, but the Raiders will get Jordan Rapana back from suspension in round five and Albert Hopoate has again shone at NRL level.
"They're saying four to six weeks ... It's disappointing because Nicky's been playing really well for us," Stuart said.
NRL ROUND FOUR
Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Newcastle, 4.05pm.
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David Polkinghorne
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
