Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart will name star hooker Josh Hodgson for their do-or-die semi-final next week, but admitted he was "very doubtful" to recover from an injury to his left ankle in time.
Hodgson rolled his left ankle when he stepped on teammate Aidan Sezer at the start of the second half, which proved to be a turning point as the Cronulla Sharks ran over the top to win 16-14 at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.
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The England international left the stadium in a moon boot and went straight for an MRI scan.
It means two of the Raiders' keys — Hodgson and five-eighth Blake Austin (hand) — are in a race against time to be fit, although Austin said during the week he was expecting to be cleared to play.
They'll play the winner of Sunday's elimination final between Canterbury Bulldogs and the Penrith Panthers at Canberra Stadium next weekend, most likely on Saturday night.
The Green Machine came out firing, inspired by a 25,592 fans doing the Viking clap as they ran out onto the field.
They burst out of the blocks to score two tries in the opening 20 minutes — with both Hodgson and winger Jordan Rapana crossing the line — but they couldn't capitalise on their dominant first half.
The Sharks scored what Stuart described as a "soft try" just minutes before half-time and the home team only led 12-6 at the break.
![Josh Hodgson is taken from Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.](/web/20160918120009im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/d/j/d/8/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grdcik.png/1473808257282.jpg)
More wind was knocked out of their sails at the start of the second half when Hodgson rolled his ankle, with the trainer immediately signalling he was done for the night.
The 26-year-old needed to be carried from the field.
While they strapped his ankle in the sheds, he was unable to take any further part in the game.
From there, the Sharks slowly reeled the Raiders in — levelling the scores through a penalty goal in the 66th minute and then taking the lead the same way with just five minutes remaining.
Stuart said he'd name both Hodgson and Austin and see how they pulled up during the week.
"I don't [know how bad Hodgson's ankle is], we've got to get scans and that, but I'll name him to play next week. But he's very doubtful," Stuart said.
"I'll name [Austin] for you all this week so you can stop asking me that question and I'll make a decision at the back end of the week.
"I understand it's a very important decision and selection, so I'll name him in the six jumper and I'll let you know as soon as I know.
"I won't be trying to hide who's going to play or not. There'll be no ducks and drakes."
Stuart wasn't going to allow his team any time to dwell on the loss, emphasising the importance of moving on and getting ready for their semi-final opponent.
"If you want to make it gut-wrenching you'll probably have a negative attitude going into the next week," he said.
"We've got to get over that, we've got to move into the next game — we find out who that is tomorrow — and it's just added another week of football to the schedule for us.
"We've already spoken to the boys, they've got to get over that tonight and we've got to move forward tomorrow. We've got to get into a really healthy frame of mind tomorrow."
The Raiders had just six players with NRL finals experience going into the game, while the Sharks had a wealth of experience across the park.
But with 11 players making their finals debut, Canberra captain Jarrod Croker said his young team would take a lot out of the qualifying final loss and will be better prepared for next week.
He said getting a taste for "the grind" of finals footy would be the biggest positive to come out of the game.
Trailing 16-14, Croker led the way to win the ball back with just 20 seconds remaining to give them one last crack, but the Sharks held on.
"We knew it was going to be like that and I thought we hung in until the 80th minute. We had a chance there in the 80th minute to snatch it and we've done that all year," he said.
"It's tough footy, it's grinding footy and the boys get to go around next week. It's good."
CRONULLA SHARKS 16 (Matt Prior, Valentine Holmes tries; James Maloney 4 goals) bt CANBERRA RAIDERS 14 (Josh Hodgson, Jordan Rapana tries; Jarrod Croker 3 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referees: Matt Cecchin and Alan Shortall. Crowd: 25,592.