Raiders young gun Jack Murchie to make NRL debut against Sharks
Canberra Raiders young gun Jack Murchie will make his NRL debut against Cronulla at Shark Park on Friday night, coming onto the bench to fill the void left by captain Jarrod Croker and Aidan Sezer.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart told the 21-year-old at the team meeting before the captain's run on Thursday.
It's Murchie's first season as a member of the Green Machine's senior squad and he follows in the footsteps of Nick Cotric as the latest junior to come through Canberra's under-20s.
The absence of Croker (knee) and Sezer (hamstring) led to a backline re-shuffle, with No.14 Blake Austin coming into the halves opening a spot in the 17 for Murchie.
He'll look to bolster a depleted Raiders pack that's missing Shannon Boyd (calf) and Joe Tapine (suspension), while regular fullback Jack Wighton (suspension) is also missing.
It's still unclear who will take up the goal-kicking duties in place of Croker and Sezer.
More to come.
NRL ROUND 19
Friday: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at Shark Park, 6pm. Live on Fox League.
Raiders team: 1. Brad Abbey, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Michael Oldfield, 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Jordan Rapana, 14. Blake Austin, 6. Sam Williams, 8. Dunamis Lui, 9. Josh Hodgson (c), 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Sia Soliola, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Josh Papalii. Interchange from: 15. Luke Bateman, 16. Siliva Havili, 17. Liam Knight, 18. Craig Garvey, 19. Jack Murchie, 20. Royce Hunt, 21. Emre Guler.
Sharks team: 1. Valentine Holmes, 2 Sione Katoa, 3 Jesse Ramien, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Edrick Lee, 6 Matt Moylan, 7 Chad Townsend, 8 Andrew Fifita, 9 Jayden Brailey, 10 Matt Prior, 11 Scott Sorensen, 12 Wade Graham, 13 Paul Gallen. Interchange from: 14 Joseph Paulo, 15 James Segeyaro, 16 Aaron Woods, 17 Jayson Bukuya, 18 Ava Seumanufagai, 19 Sosaia Feki, 20 Kurt Dillon, 21 Kyle Flanagan.