Canberra Raiders misfire without their Turbo

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has a similar effect on the Canberra Raiders.

It means Bailey Simonsson has big boots to fill when he runs out in the No.1 jersey against the Brisbane Broncos at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has shifted him from the wing, dropping Caleb Aekins to NSW Cup after the ex-Panther was given first crack at covering Nicoll-Klokstad's absence.

The Raiders were in the process of strengthening their depth in the position, having met with unwanted St George Illawarra fullback Matthew Dufty on Thursday.

Statistics highlight exactly what the Green Machine's missing and how important injured fullback Nicoll-Klokstad was.

The New Zealand international's been ruled out for the rest of season following neck surgery and it's no coincidence the Raiders have struggled in his absence - winning just one of seven games without him.

Manly were looking like wooden spoon contenders, losing their first five games of the season, before fullback Tom Trbojevic returned from a hamstring injury to launch them into the top eight.

A quick look at the numbers highlights exactly how important Canberra's fullback has been - especially defensively.

The Raiders have won 65.4 per cent of their games with Nicoll-Klokstad in the side since his arrival from the Warriors in 2019.

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That drops to just 30 per cent for the 10 games he's missed so far, with Aekins, Simonsson, Jordan Rapana and Adam Cook all having played fullback during that time.

They're less potent in attack - their average score drops from 21.3 to 18.8.

But it's defensively where he's been most sorely missed. They've gone from conceding 16.0 points per game out to 27.9 - almost two tries worse off without him.

On average Nicoll-Klokstad scored more tries (0.37 per game), made more linebreaks (0.42), ran for more metres (176.7m), and made more offloads than whoever has covered his absence over the past three seasons.

In his absence, try assists (0.4) have gone up, as have linebreak assists (0.5). Tackle busts were about the same.

Simonsson played one NRL game at fullback in 2019 (round 25) and trained there during the pre-season.

"Bailey's always wanting to get more involved in the team, always asking the question how he can get his contribution up and this is a great chance for him," Stuart said.

"He's practiced fullback before, filled in a little bit at fullback before. I know he's excited about the opportunity and the challenge."

Stuart pointed to Simonsson's background in rugby union, where he was part of the All Blacks sevens program before code hopping to rugby league and joining the Raiders.

"Bailey's background is in rugby union, he's played for the New Zealand sevens," he said.

"He's had a little bit of time there. He's got some good solid attack, he's got some good skill and he's quite a big body.

"It's a tough position. It's one of the hardest positions on the field to play. It takes a lot of energy and your workload's very high."

NRL ROUND 14

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Brisbane Broncos at Canberra Stadium, 7.35pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Bailey Simonsson, 2. Semi Valemei, 3. Sebastian Kris, 4. Matthew Timoko, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. Corey Harawira-Naera, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Iosia Soliola, 17. Joseph Tapine. Reserves: 18. Elijah Anderson, 19. Hudson Young, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Harry Rushton.

Broncos squad: 1. Herbie Farnworth, 2. Xavier Coates, 3. Dale Copley, 4. Jesse Arthars, 5. Selwyn Cobbo, 6. Karmichael Hunt, 7. Albert Kelly, 8. Matthew Lodge, 9. Jake Turpin, 10. Payne Haas, 11. Alex Glenn, 12. Tevita Pangai jnr, 13. Thomas Flegler. Interchange: 14. Kobe Hetherington, 15. John Asiata, 16. Keenan Palasia, 17. TC Robati. Reserves: 18. Tesi Niu, 19. Cory Paix, 20. David Mead, 21. Jordan Riki.