Cleared from COVID-19, Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton will be back in action for the Raiders' Sunday afternoon game against the Dragons in Wollongong.
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Wighton missed out on Game Two of State of Origin with the NSW Blues and Canberra's last match against Newcastle after testing positive, but he is now ready to return to club duties for the Green Machine, dropping Matt Frawley out of the 17.
"Jack fully trained on Tuesday," coach Ricky Stuart said.
"It was a double whammy for him, but fortunately without him we won and NSW have kept the series alive."
Also returning is Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad who was greenlit two weeks earlier than expected after a hamstring injury kept him sidelined since late last month.
The former fullback has been named on the bench as a utility in place of youngster James Schiller who suffered a shoulder injury and has been ruled out for up to three weeks.
"Charnze is very diligent. He's worked hard and he's been running well for the last week and a half," Stuart said.
"James had an issue with his collarbone where we thought it was broken. It's not but it's still quite sore so he'll be out this week."
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New Zealand internationals Joe Tapine and Jordan Rapana and Queensland Maroons prop Josh Papalii will be looking to continue their strong representative form when they rejoin the Raiders in round 16, with a spot in the top-eight within reach.
The Raiders are currently 11th on the NRL ladder, with the Dragons two points ahead in eighth.
The game on Sunday is an excellent chance for Canberra to edge their way into the top half of the table and stake their claim for premiership contention.
The remaining nine rounds of the NRL regular season will see the Raiders take on the Dragons twice, the Storm, Warriors, Titans, Panthers, Knights, Sea Eagles and Tigers.
"We're always keeping an eye on [the ladder and road ahead], but players tend not to let it have too much effect on their way of thinking," Stuart said.
"It's an important couple of weeks coming up."
Corey Horsburgh said the team has been building nicely after a rocky start to the year, and if they can maintain an 80-minute performance over the next few weeks, the competition ladder will soon look very different.
"If we can play both halves of footy we'll be probably top-four," the bench prop said.
"It's a concentration thing. Like [last round against Newcastle] we got to 14-nil and then it was just a dip in mentality.
"We've got to keep that mentality high and just keep doing what works, and I think that's the key to winning footy games.
"We've got the group here, we've just got to keep playing good footy and take our opportunities. If we get in that eight, we'll shake up the comp."
The Dragons are unchanged from last round with captain Ben Hunt named despite suffering a leg injury playing for the Maroons.
NRL ROUND 16
Sunday: St George Illawarra Dragons v Canberra Raiders at WIN 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. Ryan Sutton, 16. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Matt Frawley, 19. Corey Harawira-Naera. 20. Trey Mooney. 21. Semi Valemei, 22. Adrian Trevilyan.
Dragons squad: 1. Cody Ramsey, 2. Mat Feagai, 3. Moses Suli, 4. Zac Lomax, 5. Mikaele Ravalawa, 6. Talatau Amone, 7. Ben Hunt (c), 8. Jack de Belin, 9. Andrew McCullough, 10. Blake Lawrie, 11. Jack Bird, 12. Jayden Su'a, 13.Tariq Sims. Interchange: 14. Moses Mbye, 15. Frances Molo. 16. Aaron Woods, 17. Michael Molo.
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