Canberra Raiders prop Joe Tapine is the NRL's Post Contact Monster

The Canberra Raiders prop leads the NRL for post-contact metres with 897, as Haas (826m) and Tapine prepare to go head-to-head at Lang Park on Saturday night.

Tapine's been one of the Green Machine's best all season and was brilliant against the Sydney Roosters last weekend in the absence of his front-row partner Josh Papalii, who was in Queensland's State of Origin camp.

The 28-year-old's averaging 153 run metres per game - the most of his nine NRL campaigns - and he's almost reached his personal best of 1042 post-contact metres, which he produced in 2020.

It's no wonder Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said he has the best front-rowers in the world in terms of Tapine and Papalii.

Papalii returns to the Raiders line-up to face the Broncos, after missing the win over the Roosters.

He'll come back relatively fresh having had last weekend off and only played 22 minutes for Queensland in their win over NSW on Wednesday night.

The 30-year-old came off after an opening stint of 16 minutes and didn't return until the final six minutes of Origin I.

Stuart put it down to ankle injuries to Maroons winger Xavier Coates and second-rower Jeremiah Nanai affecting the number of interchanges Queensland coach Billy Slater had at his disposal.

"They had a couple of interchange issues there with a couple of injuries so I don't look too deeply into that," he said.

But it means Papalii will be relatively fresh when he runs out against the Broncos, having become accustomed to backing up after Origin - sometimes just 48 hours after the most physical contest in rugby league.

Both he and Tapine will go head-to-head with Haas and Queensland teammate Pat Carrigan, who shone on Origin debut.

It's a mouth-watering forwards battle between two of the form teams of the NRL.

The Broncos have won six in a row, while the Raiders have turned their season around winning four of their past five.

Canberra have won three in a row against Brisbane, who have been a shadow of their former selves in recent years.

But Broncos coach Kevin Walters, who played in the Raiders 1989 premiership with Stuart, has turned things around in his second season in charge.

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They sit fourth on the NRL ladder, with the 11^th placed Raiders needing a win to keep them on the edge of the top eight.

"They're a big, strong, athletic team and they've been playing good football and they deserve to be where they are," Stuart said.

"Kevvie's done a really good job with them."

Papalii's return forces Corey Horbsurgh back to the bench after a strong performance starting in the front row against the Roosters.

"He's had a really good season. It comes off the back of a very good pre-season," Stuart said.

"The last couple of years he has unfortunately had disturbances right through his pre-season with injury and he was in more rehabilitation and recovery training.

"This year he had a full pre-season and he got his body back to good strength ... that's helped his football."

NRL ROUND 14

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

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. James Schiller, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Corey Harawira-Naera, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Semi Valemei, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Trey Mooney, 21. Harry Rushton, 22. Adrian Trevilyan.

Broncos squad: 1. Te Maire Martin, 2. Corey Oates, 3. Kotoni Staggs, 4. Herbie Farnworth, 5. Selwyn Cobbo, 6. Ezra Mam, 7. Adam Reynolds (c), 8. Corey Jensen, 9. Billy Walters, 10. Payne Haas, 11. TC Robati, 12. Jordan Riki, 13. Patrick Carrigan. Interchange: 14. Cory Paix, 15. Kobe Hetherington, 16. Thomas Flegler, 17. Keenan Palasia. Reserves: 18. Delouise Hoeter, 19. Rhys Kennedy, 20. Jordan Pereira, 21. Brenko Lee, 22. Ryan James, 23. Xavier Willison, 24. Brendan Piakura.

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