The Canberra Raiders have received positive news with five-eighth Blake Austin to be given every chance to play this week despite being carried from the field against Cronulla on Sunday with an ankle injury.
Austin left the field in the 31st minute after his ankle was trapped under the body of Andrew Fifita in his side's eight-point loss to the Sharks.
Speaking to jetwinvip.com post-match in a moon boot and on crutches, Austin said he wasn't sure of the severity of the injury.
"I'm not sure what's happening with it, we'll get a scan and go from there, fingers crossed it's alright," Austin said.
After being dropped to the Intrust Super Premiership due to poor form earlier in the year, Austin had been one of the key reasons why the Raiders had won four out of five heading into their clash with the Sharks.
"You can't do much when you're sitting on the sideline, but we suppose we've just got to look at it [our performance]," Austin said.
Match highlights: Raiders v Sharks - Round 10, 2018
"We knew what we were going to be in for against the Sharks, but we just couldn't come back."
Austin's absence saw Ata Hingano thrown into the deep end and forced to change his role.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said he was partly to blame for the sudden shift in role expected of Hingano following the injury to Austin.
"Having Blake go we seemed to lose our rhythm and a bit of fluency in attack," Stuart said.
"I feel sorry for Ata because I've been training him as a utility nine player and he hasn't done a lot of work in the halves with us, it's probably my fault."
It is the fourth game this season Raiders fans have been left wondering what might have been, with yet another two competition points slipping through their fingers.
Stuart paid tribute to the gutsy effort from the Cronulla side and captain Fifita given the side's injury toll. But he added his men made life a little too easy for their opponents at times.
"There were segments of the game where we kept giving them the leg up and kept them in the fight," Stuart said.
"We started the game poorly, we gifted them field position for the first 10 or 15 minutes and we got them into the battle."
