Melbourne playmaker Cameron Munster has been named to start in Friday's preliminary final against the Raiders, despite sporting a heavily strapped right knee at training on Monday.
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The star Queenslander left the field with a knee injury in the Storm's qualifying final win over Parramatta, and spent the ensuing days in a brace having suffered two MCL sprains to the same knee already this season.
Meanwhile, Dale Finucane's calf injury will be closely monitored all week after coach Craig Bellamy named the NSW Blues forward on his extended bench ahead of his side's sixth-straight NRL preliminary final.
Finucane hasn't played since suffering the injury against the Sydney Roosters in round 14.
Bellamy has also named Tom Eisenhuth on the bench in place of Chris Lewis who drops off.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has no such selection headaches ahead of the preliminary final, and has named the same 17 players who downed the Roosters at the SCG.
Just how his starting side looks remains to be seen. Hudson Young has been named on the bench again, but was a shock starter at prop in place of Sia Soliola against the Roosters and played the opening 57 minutes of the match.
Tom Starling has been named at hooker once more, but could yet start on the bench in favour of Siliva Havili.
English import Ryan Sutton has been named on Stuart's extended bench less than three weeks after suffering a grade two MCL injury in the final-round win over Cronulla.
He trained on Tuesday, but is unlikely to feature in the preliminary final although a miracle grand final comeback is still potentially on the cards.
"It's good to have the same 17 rolling in to build that confidence, and those combinations again," Raiders captain Jarrod Croker said.
"It'd take a fair bit for him [Munster] to not play, we know how good a player he is, how much of a quality player he is and how much of a better side they were with him in there."
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Friday's game is Canberra's third preliminary final in five seasons, and they've been made to do it the tough way this season after finishing outside the top four.
It means they'll square off a refreshed Melbourne side who sat out last weekend and watched from afar as Canberra endured a bruising battle against the Roosters.
"You can make pros and cons for everything in life, we're rock-hard fit and ready to go and I'm sure they're nice and fresh," Croker said.
"They had a lot of players that rested in the last game and the weekend off last week."
CANBERRA RAIDERS V MELBOURNE STORM
FRIDAY OCTOBER 16, 7.50PM (AEDT), SUNCORP STADIUM
1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Semi Valemei 3. Jarrod Croker (C) 4. Jordan Rapana 5. Nick Cotric 6. Jack Wighton 7. George Williams 8. Josh Papalii 9. Tom Starling 10. Sia Soliola 11. John Bateman 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Joe Tapine 14. Siliva Havili 15. Dunamis Lui 16. Hudson Young 17. Corey Harawira-Naera 18. Sam Williams 19. Matt Timoko 20. Ryan Sutton 21. Michael Oldfield
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
