Canberra's hopes of rescuing their NRL finals ambitions have been dealt another blow, with forward Simi Sasagi's shoulder injury set to sideline him longer than initially thought.
Centre Matt Timoko revealed that Sasagi would be out for around another month ahead of the Raiders' clash with Parramatta on Saturday, where they will need a win to keep their top eight hopes intact.
The news comes after Sasagi, who was enjoying a bright start to his campaign, picked up a shoulder injury against Penrith on May 10 and was pushing for a return between four to six weeks.
"He's definitely showing a lot of resilience. Originally when it first happened, he was supposed to be back around this time, but I think he's still another month or so away," Timoko said on Tuesday.
"He's taking leaps and bounds at the moment, though.
"The team is really missing his presence out there, whether it's in centre or second row, we're definitely missing that aspect."
After claiming the minor premiership last year, Canberra haven't replicated their success, picking up just five wins in 13 games and sitting four points adrift of the eighth-placed South Sydney.
A dismal 26-0 thumping by the Sydney Roosters last Friday only compounded their woes ahead of the Eels clash, for which they will be without star playmaker Ethan Strange and barnstorming second-rower Hudson Young because of State of Origin duties.
Canberra is also expected to miss winger Savelio Tamale (concussion), but despite the losses, Timoko is hoping captain Joe Tapine's 250th game can give the side a morale boost.
"I know for myself when I first came here as a young Kiwi kid, he was someone that took me under his wing and looked out for me," Timoko said.
"I've got heaps of good memories with him both on and off the field, and it's probably something I'm going to take really personally this week."
For the past three seasons, 13 wins has been enough to scrape into the competition's top eight, and with 11 games left in the Raiders' season, that means they will need to secure victory in eight matches to push for finals contention.
But, second-rower Zac Hosking insists the alarm bells aren't ringing yet, after revealing that centre Sebastian Kris is poised to return from a concussion on Saturday.
"If we start thinking like that (alarm bells), then we probably start panicking and it doesn't really play into the way we want to," Hosking said.
"If you look at the way the Broncos were this time last year, they weren't too dissimilar to where we are now, and they won the comp."
