Raiders leave Broncos with heavy toll as Parker, Glenn hurt

TEST forward Corey Parker put aside the pain of a possible season-ending shoulder injury to implore his Broncos teammates to stick tight on a perilous road to the NRL finals.

TEST forward Corey Parker put aside the pain of a possible season-ending shoulder injury to implore his Broncos teammates to stick tight on a perilous road to the NRL finals.

Parker and Kiwi international Alex Glenn (hamstring tear) joined the long list of Broncos wounded after yesterday's 28-12 loss to the Raiders at Canberra Stadium, with Parker leaving the dressingrooms with his left arm in a sling.

Test centre Justin Hodges hopes to be back from ankle and hamstring injuries for Sunday's clash with the table-topping Bulldogs in Sydney, but faces a searching fitness test.

Glenn's injury was there for all to see yesterday, with the two-try hero helped from the field after he stopped dead while taking the ball into the ruck.

Coach Anthony Griffin reported "just the usual bumps and bruises" as the only other concerns, so it came as a shock in the Broncos rooms to see Parker in distress from a shoulder injury he received the first time he took the ball into the defence.

"As Pet (prop Petero Civoniceva) said, I must have walked under a ladder," Parker said.

He was returning from a medial ligament injury and earlier in the year had a broken thumb.

"It's what you do," he said. "It's no different to any other player. I had the shoulder strapped and played on but it's no good.

"I'll have scans and see how it goes.

"It's a tough run home and we have a few wounded soldiers.

"The only way out is together and through hard work.

"We've got five weeks to do it. The only way we will get through this is together and stick tight. We've been there before.

"I remember in 2006 we lost five in a row and won the premiership. The good thing about this group is that it runs deep when you're in this position.

"You can't question the effort and the commitment the jersey means to each other."

Glenn said he felt the hamstring twinge in the process of scoring his second try, but thought it was OK.

"But when I took the ball up I couldn't put any pressure on it so I had to drop to the ground," he said.

"It's hard to say how bad it is. I'll have scans tomorrow."

England Test centre Jack Reed came through his comeback match from a broken leg without any problems and had an absorbing duel with Raiders centre Blake Ferguson.

The Broncos led 6-0 after 20 minutes thanks to Glenn's first try, but were behind 10-6 at halftime and then 16-6 after 56 minutes when lock Shaun Fensom scored beside the posts after five-eighth Ben Hunt failed to find touch from a penalty kick.

Hunt, who started instead of Corey Norman, was immediately hooked by Griffin.

Canberra coach David Furner took his men into camp at a city hotel on Saturday to simulate an away match, with the Raiders enjoying more success on the road this year than at home.

Griffin said his players were guilty of too many second-half errors.

RAIDERS 28 BRONCOS 12

Canberra: J Dugan 2, J Croker, S Fensom, T Waddell tries; J Croker 4 goals.
Brisbane: A Glenn 2 tries; P Wallace 2 goals
Referees: Gavin Badger, Chris James.
Crowd: 9850.