Ricky Stuart has named Tom Starling as the main man who will need to step up in the absence of Josh Hodgson, whose season-ending knee injury has left the Canberra Raiders with a “headache” just two weeks into the season.
A crucial cog in the Green Machine’s charge to the 2019 decider, Hodgson was hoping to guide Canberra back to the finals in his last season at the club.
Instead, the Parramatta-bound hooker will spend the year recovering from a knee reconstruction.
The Raiders have been left reeling by the injury, especially given first-choicexjmtzyw halfback Jamal Fogarty is already sidelined until mid-season with an injury of his own.
In their first game without Hodgson, the Raiders went down to the North Queensland Cowboys, who are at very long odds to play finals footy this year.
Stuart admitted Hodgson’s injury was tough to swallow.
“Losing Josh for the season now gives us a headache and it puts pressure on our other players who have to fill into those positions,” Stuart said.
But Stuart is putting his faith in Starling, a regular on the Raiders bench who filled in for an injured Hodgson during the 2020 season.
“(The injury) means Tommy plays a different role, a different role to what he does when Josh is starting,” Stuart said.
“It’s back to where he was in 2020. He started a lot of games, played a lot more minutes than what he was used to, but fortunately for us he’s got the ability to do that.
“Tom’s a tough, conscientious style of player. He’s still developing and improving and that’s certainly the way he trains too.
“He doesn’t lack any attention to detail with his training, he works very hard and he’s committed.”
The Raiders are set to welcome back the suspended Jordan Rapana for this Saturday’s clash with the Gold Coast Titans.
“Jordy brings a lot of energy to the team. He’s one of our characters and the boys get a buzz around Jordy. His experience back on the edge will be good,” Stuart said.
He said skipper Jarrod Croker was close to returning from a knee injury.
“He’s in the mix now, but it’s just a matter of getting football … and getting him back to where we need him to be,” he said.
The Titans came within a whisker of upsetting premiership fancies Parramatta in round 1 and notched a tight win over the Warriors last weekend. Stuart said he expected the Raiders would need to muscle up in defence in order to contain them.
“They’re a very good attacking football team,” Stuart said of the Titans.
“If you turn cheap footy over, they’re going to make you pay. We really need to be disciplined with the football and complete our sets.”
