Raiders v Eels: Croker out, Fogarty in; Blake returns

The Raiders looked like men on a mission in Dubbo as they ensured club legend Josh Papali'i celebrated his 250th game in style with a dominant win over Souths.

The 32-12 victory was Canberra's third on the trot, lifting them to ninth on the ladder, outside the eight only on points differential.

Parramatta had to dig deep to get the better of Manly in a tight struggle at CommBank Stadium, coming back from 20-10 down to register their seventh win of the season.

The Raiders are traditionally tough to beat at home on a Sunday afternoon and they'll be hoping for a huge crowd to make life uncomfortable for Brad Arthur's men.

The Rundown
Team news

Raiders: Skipper Jarrod Croker suffered a dislocated shoulder on Tuesday and will be sent for scans to determine whether surgery is required. He had been named to make his comeback from a shoulder injury suffered in round nine. Seb Kris comes in to the starting side at centre and James Schiller joins the bench.

Halfback Jamal Fogarty will play his first game of the season after recovering from a knee injury. Brad Schneider drops to the reserves. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad will miss the game with a hamstring injury and his place at fullback is taken by Xavier Savage. Ryan Sutton joins the bench and Harry Rushton drops out.

Eels: Waqa Blake makes his comeback from a knee injury on the wing so Hayze Perham drops out. Cult hero Maika Sivo made a successful return through NSW Cup last weekend and was listed among the reserves on Tuesday but dropped out of the squad on Saturday. He will look to make a return in round 14 after the Eels' bye in round 13.

Key match-up
Jack Wighton v Dylan Brown: The Raiders No.6 returned from a two-game suspension in style against the Bunnies, setting up a try and keeping the defence on its toes all day. With Origin approaching and spots in the centres and at No.14 up for grabs, Wighton will be out to impress Blues coach Brad Fittler with another dominant display. Brown has hit top gear in the past three weeks after returning to his favoured five-eighth role, coming up with a try, nine tackle breaks and a line break. 

Stat Attack
Maika Sivo has scored 54 tries in 67 games for the Eels, 22 of those coming in the 2019 season. The most tries ever scored in a season for Parramatta is 24 by his fellow Fijian Semi Radradra in 2015, followed by Steve Ella with 23 in 1982.

 

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