Canberra Raiders not done due to injuries

They've vowed to seek redemption against the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on Saturday after failing to turn up in their loss to North Queensland.

Raiders enforcer Josh Papalii and fellow forward Corey Harawira-Naera were gutted for Josh Hodgson, whose season's over, and will do everything in their power to send him out a winner.

Hodgson will miss the rest of the season after getting his third knee reconstruction, meaning he's played his last game in lime green before joining Parramatta next year.

His absence - on top of Jamal Fogarty's knee injury, which ruled Canberra's halfback out for the first half of the campaign - has some experts putting a line through the Raiders for 2022.

But Papalii dismissed suggestions the Green Machine were a spent force.

"Obviously not [writing ourselves off]. That's just outside noise. We're not looking too much into that. We're focussed on ourselves," he said on Tuesday.

"We've got a lot of experience in the team. We're not going to read too much into the media or what people are saying about us.

"It's still early [in the season], we've got round three to focus on and that's what we're going to do."

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Harawira-Naera was equally dismissive, stating their forward pack could match it with anyone.

That wasn't the case in the 26-6 loss to the Cowboys though, with the New Zealand international saying they weren't good enough in Townsville.

It was a similar sentiment from Papalii who said they'd been "caught off guard", before vowing it wouldn't happen again.

Similarly, Harawira-Naera said they were desperate to make sure there wasn't a repeat against the Titans pack.

"Our forward pack on our day can go with anyone and we take that personally the way we played on the weekend, we weren't up to par," he said.

"It doesn't matter what halves you have if you're not going forward and not dominating the other pack it doesn't really matter what they do - it's going to be harder anyway.

"Everyone took it personally that their own individual and us as a pack just wasn't good enough. We get seven days to make up for it against the Titans."

Papalii was left devastated by Hodgson's injury, which will see the England international's Raiders career end after 138 NRL games.

The pair have become good mates since the 32-year-old's arrival in Canberra seven years ago.

Hodgson's influence has gone beyond simply being one of the best hookers in the world.

Off the field, he's also been an influence on the quietly-spoken Queenslander.

Such is Hodgson's standing you'd expect him to slot into some sort of coaching role once he's on the mend from his surgery.

It's why the Raiders were now determined to try and give their Pommie mate the best send off possible.

"I was shattered for Hodgey ... we've played with Hodgo for a long time now. He's only made this place better and us a better team as well," Papalii said.

"Off field he's been really massive for me as well, so he's going to be well missed.

"But he's sticking around for the whole year - but round one was our last game together so it's very emotional and very sad.

"Hopefully we can do something special to farewell him."

Harawira-Naera said it was more than a one-man job to replace Hodgson, with the entire squad needing to lift.

After young hooker Adrian Trevilyan made his NRL debut last week as Tom Starling's dummy half back-up, Matt Frawley was named in the No.14 jersey to face the Titans.

Harawira-Naera said the way Hodgson found out about his knee would have been especially disappointing for him.

At first it was thought he'd just hurt his meniscus and would only miss 2-3 weeks.

But it soon became clear it might be more serious and he had a partial tear of his anterior cruciate ligament.

It will be something the Raiders will draw on for inspiration throughout the season as they look to honour everything he's done for the club.

"I just feel for him. He's been through the trenches the last couple of years with his knees," Harawira-Naera said.

"Obviously thinking it was something else and finding out it was worst-case scenario was an emotional rollercoaster for him - thinking he'd be back in a couple of weeks and now he's out for the season.

"We're going to miss him ... but it's going to be a motivator for us to play for him.

"I spoke earlier in the season that it was his last season with the club and we want to win the comp for him. That's going to be at the forefront of our minds more so now."

NRL ROUND THREE

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium, 7.35pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matthew Timoko, 4. Semi Valemei, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Brad Schneider, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Tom Starling, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Corey Harawira-Naera, 13. Elliott Whitehead. Interchange: 14. Matt Frawley, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Adam Elliott, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Xavier Savage, 19. Ryan Sutton, 20. Adrian Trevilyan, 21. Sebastian Kris, 22. Sam Williams, 23. Trey Mooney, 24. Harry Rushton.

Titans squad: 1. Jayden Campbell, 2. Phillip Sami, 3. Brian Kelly, 4. Patrick Herbert, 5. Greg Marzhew, 6. Alexander Brimson, 7. Toby Sexton, 8. Moeaki Fotuaika, 9. Erin Clark, 10. Isaac Liu, 11. David Fifita, 12. Beau Fermor, 13. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui. Interchange: 14. Will Smith, 15. Sam Lisone, 16. Jaimin Jolliffe, 17. Kevin Proctor. Reserves: 18. Herman Ese'ese, 19. Esan Marsters, 20. Jarrod Wallace, 21. Sam McIntyre, 22. Jamayne Isaako, 23. Paul Turner, 24. Sosefo Fifita.

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