Losing co-captain Josh Hodgson was the last straw for Canberra Raiders veteran Jarrod Croker, who hasn’t seen his NRL club suffer such injury carnage in a 12-season career.
While COVID-19 had inflicted all manner of disruption to the competition in 2020, it was more orthodox injuries taking their toll in the capital.
Two days out from their grand final rematch against the Sydney Roosters, Croker couldn’t believe their medical list had swelled to include Hodgson (knee) and Bailey Simonsson (shoulder) following their season-ending injuries suffered in the 20-14 home loss to Melbourne.
The Raiders lost middle forwards Sia Soliola (facial fracture), Emre Guler (ankle) and Corey Horsburgh (foot) this month and there’s doubt over all three returning.
“It seems to be compounding at the moment,” Croker said.
“Obviously there’s been a lot of tough times in the past but I don’t remember it being this bad.
“It’s basically five season-ending injuries in two weeks pretty much. But we’re a tough club, a tough team, that’s from upstairs to downstairs. We’re all in it together.
“It’s backs against the wall. We’ve got a short turnaround which might be a good thing … so we can get straight back into it and go against the premiers.”
Last weekend threw up a sackful of serious injuries across the competition, leaving Crocker scratching his head at the cause.
He estimated Hodgson was among 12 players to have had 2020 cut short by ACL knee damage since the competition resumption.
“I’m not up with the sport science but it’s way too many isn’t it?
“I do feel for all those blokes, it’s a tough injury. Having seen Hodgo go through it before, it’s very tough for him.
“On top of that, there’s been a lot of (other) season-ending injuries. There’s certainly something going on. What that is, I don’t know.”
Croker said he wouldn’t look for excuses at the Sydney Cricket Ground, noting the Roosters had endured their share of ailments too,
He wasn’t unhappy about their performance against Melbourne, although it was their third tight loss in four games.
“We’ll get ourselves up. I’m not worried about the boys’ energy and motivation,” he said.
“It’s not all doom and gloom. We’re still in the top eight and there’s a lot of footy to be played.
“We’ll bounce back and get out of this rut that we’re in. One of our main reasons for success last year was how much depth we had.”