The Canberra Raiders have suffered a significant blow to their finals chances, with star representative forward Josh Papalii confirmed to miss the rest of the season.
The Raiders have confirmed that the forward will undergo surgery today on his biceps tendon and will not feature in any more games this season due to an extended recovery time.
A mainstay of the Raiders forward pack since 2011, the club will not only lose skill but also valuable experience. He is also one of a few members of the roster to appear in the 2019 Grand Final against the Sydney Roosters with Nick Cotric, Jarrod Croker, Jordan Rapana, Elliott Whitehead, Joseph Tapine, Emre Gules and Corey Horsburgh.
In his 18 first-grade games for the club this season, he has made 424 tackles (95.5 per cent tackle efficiency), 898.9 post-contact metres, 39 tackle breaks, two tries and ran 2330 metres (averaging 129 per game).
In other injury news at the club, halfback Jamal Fogarty trained with the squad on Tuesday morning and will be named in the team to take on the Cronulla Sharks on Sunday afternoon.
As the Raiders are not yet locked into the finals, it is a crucial blow to their chances to win against the Sharks this week. With the Sharks sixth and the Raiders seventh heading into the game, though, it means the winner will host an elimination final. To miss out, they would need to lose, have the Cowboys win, and the clash between the Roosters and Rabbitohs not finish in a draw.
After a strong beginning and middle to the season, the Raiders have struggled as of late, losing five of their last six matches. They will head into the Sharks game off an 11-point controversial loss to the Brisbane Broncos at home. With the game in the balance and minutes left on the coach, Hudson Young was penalised for an escort.
“Every escort is going to be exactly the same as Hudson's, but why does it go against us? As it did here three or four weeks ago,” Stuart said.
“It happens every game on these escorts, I don't understand why it has been us. Or I do understand but that's probably the part I can't talk about.”
