Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has been named on the Canberra Raiders bench as he returns from injury against Manly on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.
Nicoll-Klokstad hasn’t played since injuring his neck against the Panthers in round five and his return gives the Green Machine a massive boost as they push for finals.
He has been named in the 14 jersey with the in-form Jordan Rapana to start at fullback.
Captain Jarrod Croker has been ruled out with an ongoing knee injury and has been replaced in the centres by Seb Kris.
Matt Frawley gets another chance at NRL level, named on the bench in place of the injured Tom Starling, while Corey Harawira-Naera will serve the first week of his three-match suspension.
The ninth-placed Raiders will likely need to win at least two of their final three matches against Manly, New Zealand and the Roosters to make finals.
Meanwhile, Manly have named star fullback Tom Trbojevic despite copping a knock to his cheek last week.
Reports earlier this week suggested he suffered a fractured cheekbone, but the club is adamant that is not the case.
“He’s had a knock to an old injury. The only concern is a bit of swelling but he’s not in too much pain,” head physio James Rahme said.
“From a medical point of view we’re not really concerned about the injury itself.
“We’re just assessing the swelling and hopefully he’s comfortable as the week progresses to join training and then be fine to play.”
Manly have a terrible record without their star fullback in the side and are 33.7 points per game better with him in.
Canberra Raiders and Manly Sea Eagles team lists
Raiders | Manly | |
Jordan Rapana | 1 | Tom Trbojevic |
Bailey Simonsson | 2 | Jason Saab |
Seb Kris | 3 | Morgan Harper |
Matt Timoko | 4 | Moses Suli |
Harley Smith-Shields | 5 | Reuben Garrick |
Jack Wighton | 6 | Kieran Foran |
Sam Williams | 7 | Daly Cherry-Evans |
Josh Papalii | 8 | Josh Aloiai |
Josh Hodgson | 9 | Lachlan Croker |
Joe Tapine | 10 | Martin Tapau |
Hudson Young | 11 | Haumole Olakau’atu |
Eliott Whitehead | 12 | Josh Schuster |
Ryan Sutton | 13 | Jake Trbojevic |
Bench | Bench | |
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad | 14 | Dylan Walker |
Emre Guler | 15 | Karl Lawton |
Sia Soliola | 16 | Curtis Sironen |
Matt Frawley | 17 | Toafofoa Sipley |
Reserves | Reserves | |
Dunamis Lui | 18 | Jack Gosiewski |
Trey Mooney | 19 | Tevita Funa |
Elijah Anderson | 20 | Kurt De Luis |
Caleb Aekins | 21 | Cade Cust |