Canberra Raiders' Englishman Harry Rushton poised for NRL debut against Penrith Panthers

We go to Ryan Sutton, one of the stars in Canberra's English production line. "A tough kid" is the best way to sum up his young Raiders teammate. They only breed them one way coming through the ranks at Wigan.

And secondly, Rushton will back himself - so much so that a try off his own grubber in reserve grade little more than a week ago had the 20-year-old back-rower thinking "he could play for Blackpool".

Rushton is poised to make his NRL debut off the bench for the Raiders when they meet premiership heavyweights Penrith at Panthers Stadium on Sunday.

He is the lone change to Canberra's forward pack with Emre Guler moving back to the extended bench. Jordan Rapana slots in at fullback, Xavier Savage moves to the wing and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad shuffles to the bench.

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Rushton has been a standout for the Raiders at NSW Cup level, averaging 122 running metres throughout five games. That same stint has delivered three tries, two line breaks and two line break assists.

"What he has done in NSW Cup is put a really good performance in, week in, week out. He's come from Wigan like me, he's come through the ranks at Wigan, he's a tough kid," Sutton said.

"He knows what needs to be done. I'm really looking forward to it if he does get a chance to play, to see what he can do, because he's been knocking on the door for a few weeks now.

"He's really good with the ball in hand as well, he's a skilful player. With Mick Crawley coming in and giving us the freedom to play, it's been exciting to see what he can do.

"He's a confident player as well, Harry, even though he is young he is confident in what he does. It's been showing in NSW Cup."

He has been called into Raiders coach Ricky Stuart's line-up for one of the game's toughest tasks. That alone says something about both Rushton's character and ability.

While Stuart has made a handful of changes after a lacklustre outing last weekend left him fuming, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary has had the luxury of fielding the same side four weeks in succession as Penrith look for a 7-0 start.

"We've just got to fight fire with fire at the end of the day," Sutton said.

"We know what's going to come out of the Panthers, they're really the pinnacle of the comp at the minute, they're top of the league, and we've got to make sure we match them from minute one all the way through to minute 80, and not just give a 40-minute performance.

"We've been doing 40 minutes week in, week out at the minute, but we've not yet given that full-game performance.

"They are the form side. Everyone who comes to them wants to be firing, be in their faces, but we've just got to concentrate and making sure we're doing our individual thing."

NRL ROUND SEVEN

Sunday: Penrith Panthers v Canberra Raiders at Panthers Stadium, 4pm.

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

Panthers squad: 1. Dylan Edwards, 2. Charlie Staines, 3. Izack Tago, 4. Stephen Crichton, 5. Taylan May, 6. Jarome Luai, 7. Nathan Cleary, 8. Matt Eisenhuth, 9. Apisai Koroisau, 10. James Fisher-Harris, 11. Viliame Kikau, 12. Liam Martin, 13. Isaah Yeo. Interchange: 14. Mitch Kenny, 15. Scott Sorensen, 16. Spencer Leniu, 17. Jaeman Salmon. Reserves: 18. Robert Jennings, 19. Chris Smith, 20. J'maine Hopgood, 21. Lindsay Smith, 22. Soni Luke, 23. Christian Crichton, 24. Sean O'Sullivan.

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