Canberra Raiders took Jarrod Croker 300 call out of co-captain's hands

Croker will miss the clash against Wests Tigers at Campbelltown on Friday and will have to wait until the following week for his milestone game - against the New Zealand Warriors at Canberra Stadium Friday week.

He'll spend the week off getting his body as "fit and ready as possible", despite getting through the emotional win over South Sydney with nothing more serious than a massive black eye.

It sounds odd to say about a Raiders great, but the 32-year-old's been a revelation for the Green Machine this season after fighting back from career-threatening shoulder and knee injuries.

He admitted he'd had concerns he may not play the eight games needed to get there.

But the Raiders leadership group called for him to return to the side ahead of their round six win over the then unbeaten Brisbane Broncos.

They've won six of their seven games since his return to climb to seventh and just one win off top on a congested NRL ladder.

The decision to rest Croker divided fans on social media, while it also drew criticism from Raiders legend Mal Meninga and NRL great Cooper Cronk - the former saying Canberra had to beat Wests to justify the decision.

Croker felt he might need 300 tickets to give away to family and friends.

"There was never an argument. [Raiders chief executive Don Furner] and [coach Ricky Stuart] both mentioned it a few times and to be honest I just kept telling them, 'I don't want to talk about it until I've played 299'," he said.

"That's all I kept saying. Then they didn't ask, they just told me.

"'You're the boss mate,' I said. 'I'll play wherever you need me to play.'

"I appreciate it, I really do. Obviously I hate missing an NRL game, missing footy games, but I do appreciate the opportunity to do that. Already looking forward to it."

The Raiders will be sweating on the fitness of fullback Sebastian Kris, who was unable to finish the game after hyperextending his knee, with more known on Monday.

It could see Xavier Savage play his first NRL game of the season having overcome his broken jaw.

A fit Kris would be an option to replace Croker at centre, along with Nick Cotric, Harley Smith-Shields and James Schiller.

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That made it likely Cotric would pay the $3000 fine rather than fight a grade one shoulder charge on Rabbitohs centre Isaiah Tass and risk a two-game ban.

Stuart hoped they'd be able to set a new crowd for Canberra Stadium.

Unfortunately, that's unlikely given the modern-day capacity's only 25,011 and the record's 28,753 - although the Raiders drew 26,567 for their preliminary final against Souths in 2019.

Stuart said he wasn't being disrespectful to the Tigers in resting one of their most important players for the clash.

"With Jarrod now reaching 299, [chief executive Don Furner] and I have been talking to our board about the situation of Jarrod, who I think he and I believe our fans in Canberra deserve to see Jarrod play live for his 300th game," he said.

"So I won't be picking Jarrod next week against the Tigers. I'm going to sit him out for a week.

"It's not Jarrod's call. He's happy to do what's best for the team.

"Make sure our Canberra fans go out and buy your tickets early. We want to break a ground record."

NRL ROUND 14

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers at Campbelltown, 8pm.

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