round 1

Canberra Raiders Club Dr. Greg Macleod said following further scans and assessment, the decision has been made for Hodgson to have surgery.

“Josh’s knee injury sustained in round one was a minor injury, however his return to training has since uncovered some instability in his knee which appears to have caused his current injury,” Dr. Macleod said. “After further scans and diagnosis, the decision has been made that it’s the club’s duty of care to Josh for him to have an ACL reconstruction due to a partial tear in his ACL and associated injuries.”

The Hunters wrapped up a grueling preseason with a promising trial win over the West Brisbane Panthers A-grade side last week.

The Mackay Cutters went down 22-18 to the CQ Capras in their preseason trial game and were midway through a match against the NQ Cowboys Young Guns before extreme weather saw the game called off.

The last time these two sides met was in Round 12 last year when Mackey narrowly beat the Hunters 40-30 in a high scoring contest. The Hunters flew out to an early lead in that game but could not hold off a fast-finishing Cutters outfit.

Newcastle dominated the match, making six line-breaks to nil and holding the Roosters tryless until four minutes before fulltime.

Five-eighth Jake Clifford was the star of the win but it was a team performance, with the back five of Kalyn Ponga (146m), Dominic Young (124m), Dane Gagai (200m), Bradman Best (146m) and Enari Tuala (109m) all running more than 100 metres with the ball.

Both sides were part of the finals action in 2021 but came up short of the ultimate prize as the grind of a long season took its toll, particularly at the Roosters, who dealt with all manner of adversity along the journey.

With two of their most influential players, Luke Keary and Lindsay Collins, back from knee reconstructions, the Roosters take on a formidable look, while the addition of Dane Gagai gives the Knights more strike power.

Taking over the captaincy in Adam Reynolds' absence, Capewell capped a superb game with the booming field goal from 25 metres out with four minutes to play.

After having a try to Selwyn Cobbo in the 14th minute denied by a desperate cover tackle from Jaxson Paulo, the Broncos finally broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when Albert Kelly intercepted a Cody Walker pass and sprinted 85 metres to score.

Wighton grabbed the opening try of the night and played a key role in the match-winner as the game went to the wire in a pulsating second half.

After dominating possession for the opening eight minutes the Raiders capitalised through Wighton, combining down the left side with Nick Cotric to post the opening four-pointer.

Some of the gloss was taken off the Green Machine's flying start with hooker Josh Hodgson forced from the field inside the first 10 minutes with a knee injury.

Canberra are without star recruit Jamal Fogarty and skipper Jarrod Croker while the Sharks are in a similar boat with Cam McInnes and Wade Graham sidelined.

The Friday twilight clash will also be the first in the NRL coaching career of new Sharks mentor Craig Fitzgibbon.

The rundown
Team news
Raiders: After debuting in round 11 last year against the Storm, Brad Schneider is back for his second NRL game, taking the halfback role in the absence of Jamal Fogarty (knee).

Not only is Reynolds out, but also forward Kobe Hetherington, five-eighth Tyson Gamble and hooker Corey Paix.

The match would have been the first for Reynolds in Broncos colours as he was rested from the pre-season trials while coach Kevin Walters tried to determine who would partner him in the halves.

In the end it didn't matter and another new recruit, Billy Walters, will play alongside Albert Kelly against the new Rabbitohs pairing of Cody Walker and rookie halfback Lachlan Ilias.

After two early no-tries due to obstruction, Penrith finally made some early dominance count when young centre Izack Tago carried four defenders over the line in the 19th minute.

His centre partner Stephen Crichton crossed in the 31st but with a 12-0 halftime lead in the offing Penrith clocked off for a moment on the stroke of half time and Tom Trbojevic capitalised on some broken play to set up Ethan Bullemor for his first try in Manly colours.

Penrith's dominance last year was in no small part to the superb form of halfback Nathan Cleary, who was always touch-and-go for round one after off season shoulder surgery but has now been ruled out for a few weeks in a huge blow to Penrith's hopes of starting the season with a bang. 

Manly's own dominance was built off the back of a stunning individual season from Dally M medal winner Tom Trbojevic, who has already been setting up tries for fun through the trials and is out to not just match but improve on an individual season already considered one of the best ever.