The Raiders have made several changes to the 17-man team for their first match back at GIO Stadium Canberra against the St George Illawarra Dragons on Friday night, 3 July.
There have been a couple of forced changes due to injury with Corey Horsburgh ruled out for at least 12 weeks after undergoing surgery on his foot for a Lisfranc injury, while Jordan Rapana is out with a minor calf injury.
The loss of Horsburgh has been mitigated by the return of Joe Tapine who missed last week with a knee injury.
Tapine comes straight in for Horsburgh at lock and will help bolster the Raiders middle defence while Rapana has been replaced on the wing by Bailey Simonsson.
The big change comes with Ricky Stuart shifting off-season recruit Curtis Scott to the bench after struggling for form since the season restarted.
Scott looks devoid of confidence in both attack and defence, so has been replaced in the centres by veteran Michael Oldfield.
Hopefully, a different role in the team can see Scott regain some of the form we saw from him in the first two games of the season.
The Dragons have named an unchanged side for Friday night’s game after a respectable loss to the high-flying Sydney Roosters last round.
The Raiders have been forced to play their home games at Campbelltown Stadium since the season restart and lost both matches to the Newcastle Knights and Manly Sea Eagles, so getting back to their true home ground at GIO will be a huge bonus for the club.
The Raiders will also allow a limited number of fans to attend the match so hopefully the Raiders faithful can inspire their team to a win.
Full teams:
| Raiders | Dragons | ||
| 1 | Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad | 1 | Matthew Dufty |
| 2 | Bailey Simonsson | 2 | Jason Saab |
| 3 | Jarrod Croker | 3 | Euan Aitken |
| 4 | Michael Oldfield | 4 | Zac Lomax |
| 5 | Nick Cotric | 5 | Mikaele Ravalawa |
| 6 | Jack Wighton | 6 | Corey Norman |
| 7 | George Williams | 7 | Adam Clune |
| 8 | Josh Papalii | 8 | Blake Lawrie |
| 9 | Josh Hodgson | 9 | Cameron McInnes |
| 10 | Iosia Soliola | 10 | Paul Vaughan |
| 11 | Hudson Young | 11 | Tyson Frizell |
| 12 | Elliott Whitehead | 12 | Tyrell Fuimaono |
| 13 | Joe Tapine | 13 | Trent Merrin |
| Bench | Bench | ||
| 14 | Curtis Scott | 14 | Ben Hunt |
| 15 | Emre Guler | 15 | Josh Kerr |
| 16 | Ryan Sutton | 16 | Korbin Sims |
| 17 | Siliva Havili | 17 | Jackson Ford |
| Reserves | Reserves | ||
| 18 | Tom Starling | 18 | Eddie Blacker |
| 19 | Dunamis Lui | 19 | Tristan Sailor |
| 20 | Matt Frawley | 20 | Billy Brittain |
| 21 | Kai O’Donnell | 21 | Timoteo Lafai |
Click here for the match preview.
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