Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has confirmed co-captain Jarrod Croker is fully fit and recovered from off-season shoulder surgery, it's just a matter of when he's picked to return to the side.
The 30-year-old has been a mainstay on the Raiders' left edge for his entire career, but after ticking off all required conditioning checks is waiting for Stuart's call-up.
When asked when Croker could come back into the side, Stuart said he would "have a look at it this week", but didn't confirm if he would be named to play the Warriors on Saturday afternoon.
Croker went under the knife for shoulder surgery over the off-season following an injury he picked up in last year's finals series but has been full-contact training for weeks.
His conditioning needed to get up to scratch, but on Sunday night Stuart confirmed that he's fully fit and ready to go for round three.
"He's ticked off, it's right to go," Stuart said.
"It's just a matter of when we pick him, but he's done everything he's needed to do from a conditioning and a shoulder point of view which has given us an opportunity to keep strengthening the shoulder but our medical team have ticked off on everything."
The club has been diligent about not rushing him back into the side to ensure he's fully fit, but Sebastian Kris's form on the left edge has made it a harder decision for Stuart.
After a solid showing in round one, the young centre put in another defensively strong performance in Sunday night's 12-10 win over the Sharks, also scoring the first try of the night.
"It's wonderful to have Seb on that left edge there tonight," Stuart said.
"Our defence was very good in the first half.
"We dropped off a little bit because we gave them so much football but our left edge at times was brilliant.
"Elliott (Whitehead), Jack (Wighton), Seb and Jordan (Rapana), they had some big decisions and tackles to make.
"Cronulla are a very good attacking team and even in those conditions, they had a lot of football in the second half and field position and we kept turning them away.
"We kept turning up for each other and turning them away defensively."
