Canberra Raiders beat Cronulla Sharks in a round one NRL thriller

"I love a punt but I would have taken the one," Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.

But Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton marches to the beat of his own drum. And Hudson Young, well he never says die.

Young scored a stunning match-winner to gift the Raiders a 24-19 win over the Cronulla Sharks in their NRL season opener in front of 15,224 rabid fans at Canberra Stadium on Friday night.

It was a fairytale finish to a night that for some time shaped as a nightmare. Josh Hodgson lasted just seven minutes before being helped off the field with a knee injury, raising fears his time as a Raider might be over already.

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Cronulla had clawed their way back from 12 points down to take a 19-18 lead via the boot of Matt Moylan, and most thought the Raiders would try to level the ledger. But Wighton called for the ball and ran to find Young.

The rampaging back-rower found Matt Timoko, who sent the ball back inside to Young who surged over the line to mark Wighton's 200^th game in style.

Scans are expected to clear Raiders hooker Hodgson of a season-ending knee injury in the wake of their round one clash.

The Raiders hooker did not return amid concern he may have torn his anterior cruciate ligament, an injury which would likely bring his season - and his career as a Raider - to an abrupt end.

But there is renewed hope Hodgson has escaped an ACL injury and instead damaged his medial collateral ligament, which could see him return within six weeks.

"We're hoping it's a meniscus, it's on the outside of his knee and he's got pretty good stability in regards to the ACL side of it. From talking to the doctor, hopefully it might only be a meniscus on the outside of the knee," Stuart said.

This season marks Hodgson's last in Canberra after he signed a two-year deal to join the Parramatta Eels from 2023, with the Englishman outlining his burning desire to leave the capital with a premiership ring on his finger.

Tom Starling is the club's readymade replacement. The 23-year-old is on the verge of a contract extension and looms as a huge piece as coach Ricky Stuart tries to put together a premiership puzzle.

Stuart has already handed 21-year-old halfback Brad Schneider the keys to the Green Machine with a knee injury set to sideline Jamal Fogarty for four months.

A Canberra homecoming more than eight months in the making started on a sombre note as the Raiders stopped for a moment of silence to remember the late Peter Mulholland, whose fingerprints are all over a Raiders outfit desperate to force its way back into the finals.

A man tasked with a bigger role than most in getting them there is Wighton, who brought the crowd to their feet as he scored their first try in his 200^th game for the club.

"I still think Jack's best football is in front of him. Everyone wants to be the analyst on Jack's last season, but when you look at who you've got, we had five fullbacks last year," Stuart said.

"We had disruption at seven, and then we had Hodgo in and out, we had Tommy in and out. It doesn't matter who you are as a six or a seven, it's too hard, especially when you've got so many ones. We had no stability or cohesion.

"That's why I said other players around our halves, other players around our spine, they've all got a job to do."

When Charnze Nicll-Klokstad swooped on a Starling grubber to score before half-time, the Sharks were left facing an enormous task with their coach Craig Fitzgibbon watching in isolation back home in Sydney after contracting COVID-19 earlier this week.

It was Steve Price and Josh Hannay delivering the message - and the troops were listening.

First it was Sharks fullback Will Kennedy splitting the Raiders' right edge. Then it was back-rower Teig Wilton down the left. Within five minutes the Sharks had wiped out a 12-point deficit to level the scores.

Suddenly the ghosts of 2021 hovered over Canberra Stadium. Seven times last year the Raiders coughed up double-figure leads to lose - a statistic that all but dashed their premiership ambitions.

And as the clock ticked down, eyes started to dart around the park looking for the man to nail the one-pointer.

Sharks five-eighth Moylan stepped up to push the visitors one point clear with less than seven minutes remaining.

"In that second half we came out and did to them what they'd done to us in that first period. That's the most frustrating part," Price said.

"A lot of character within our team. We put ourselves in a position to win the game, we need to be more physical on that right edge. Simple as that."

Because Young's moment of magic stole the lead back, before desperate Raiders defenders repelled Cronulla's last-ditch attempt to score in the left corner with seconds remaining.

"This team, this squad of players, this club. We always back ourselves," Stuart said.

AT A GLANCE

NRL round one: CANBERRA RAIDERS 24 (Jack Wighton, Semi Valemei, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Hudson Young tries; Brad Schneider 4 conversions) bt CRONULLA SHARKS 19 (Blayke Brailey, Will Kennedy, Teig Wilton tries; Nicho Hynes 3 conversions; Matt Moylan field goal) at Canberra Stadium. Crowd: 15,224

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