Canberra slump to fourth loss in five games as North Queensland’s stars shine in 22-16 win

Canberra’s horrid injury toll has claimed another scalp with fears co-captain Josh Hodgson broke his thumb during their 22-16 loss to North Queensland.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is seen during the Round 11 NRL match between the Canberra Raiders and the North Queensland Cowboys at GIO Stadium in Canberra, Saturday, May 25, 2019. (AAP Image/Rohan Thomson) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

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Canberra’s horrid injury toll has claimed another scalp with fears co-captain Josh Hodgson broke his thumb during their 22-16 loss to North Queensland.

The Raiders suffered their third consecutive defeat with goalkicking proving the difference after both sides scored three tries each in Canberra. Their loss was compounded with the expectation Hodgson will be sidelined for at least a month after breaking his thumb after just one minute into the second half.

The Raiders were trailing 18-10 when Hodgson came from the field. He will join the likes of Luke Bateman, Jordan Rapana, John Bateman, Brad Abbey and Joey Leilua on the sidelines.

The Raiders have a ready-made replacement in Siliva Havili – who started 14 games at hooker in Hodgson’s absence last year.

Canberra’s injury toll continues to worsen. AAP Image/Rohan Thomson.

The Tongan international scored a try from dummy half to crawl the Raiders back into the game and have them trailing by four halfway through the second half.

“We have put the work in to cover those things,” coach Ricky Stuart said. “It’s been happening for the last four weeks.. That’s not the excuse (why we lost) with Hodgo (Hodgson) going off. We weren’t good enough.

“We had a week off. It’s not good enough. I don’t see many positives out of that game. We let ourselves down. We went backwards.”

The Raiders will also be without Josh Papalii and potentially Jack Wighton because of Origin when they play Canterbury next Saturday.

Stuart said it was going to be “very tough”.

“I can’t give you another description for it,” he said.

MORGAN FINDING FORM

Michael Morgan produced arguably his most complete performance of the season ahead of his return to the Origin arena. Morgan laid on two tries including a first half short side raid for Justin O’Neill and an early tackle cross field kick for Kyle Feldt after just two minutes in the second half to help guide the Cowboys to victory. Another Maroons certainty Josh McGuire made a successful return from injury. McGuire started from the bench and finished with 27 tackles and 14 runs from 64 minutes.

Taumalolo was in mighty form. AAP Image/Rohan Thomson.

“We scrambled really well,” Morgan said. “It was a hard-fought win. At the moment they are the games we need to win to give us some confidence moving forward. Two in a row I’ll take it.”

The victory gives the Cowboys back to back wins for the first time this year. Green said his side had to build on the performance.

“We have just about put ourselves back in the hunt again,” Green said. “Defence is an area of our game that’s improved in the last few weeks.”

SCOTT FEARS

Cowboys veteran Matt Scott lasted just 17 minutes because of a shoulder injury. While the prop was considered a slim chance of returning to the Maroons side the injury will all but quash any hopes he had of adding to his 22 Origin games.

Morgan had one of his best games of the season. AAP Image/Rohan Thomson.

Scott landed on his shoulder and said it partially dislocated.

“I have to get scans on Monday,” Scott said. “I’m not expecting a (Queensland) call-up. Hopefully it’s not too bad and I won’t be out for too long.”

HORROR OPENING 15

The Raiders bombed two and North Queensland fumbled a would-be try all inside the opening 15 minutes. Canberra halfback Sam Williams spilt the ball with the line wide open after Michael Oldfield got on the outside of the Cowboys defence before turning a ball inside for Williams to drop the pass.

Fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad also knocked on as he tried to ground a try from a Jack Wighton kick. The Cowboys cost themselves a try when Kyle Feldt fumbled when trying to ground the ball in the corner on the same set where Jake Granville was held up.

Oldfield was gifted a try when Gideon Gela-Mosby failed to scoop up a bouncing Williams’ kick.

NORTH QUEENSLAND 22 (K Feldt J O’Neill T Opacic tries J Kahu 5 goals) bt CANBERRA 16 (S Havili M Oldfield B Simonsson tries J Croker 2 goals) at GIO Stadium. Referee: Henry Perenara, Jon Stone. Crowd: 14,647

Originally published as Canberra slump to fourth loss in five games as North Queensland’s stars shine in 22-16 win