Raiders dealt Monaghan blow

Canberra winger Joel Monaghan could miss the first five rounds of the NRL after suffering a hand injury.

The 27-year-old former Sydney Roosters player suffered a fracture during his side’s 32-24 loss to Brisbane at the weekend.

He was due to have scans on his hand yesterday but early prognosis of the injury suggests he could miss between six and eight weeks.

”It happened in the last 30 seconds of the game, that’s torture,” he told The Canberra Times.

”It was just in a tackle, I got my hand out to off-load the ball and then just landed on it heavily.

”At first I just thought I’d dislocated my thumb, but it just kept coming out when they put it back in. That’s when we knew it was serious.”

Despite the result, the Raiders will have several positives to take from the performance with five-eighth Terry Campese scoring two of their four tries.

Campese was a handful all night for the Broncos while he was on the park and gave Raiders fans plenty to be happy about on Saturday night, while the Raiders forward pack led by Scott Logan and Dane Tilse caused havoc every time they marched downfield.

Despite the result Raiders Coach David Hamilton said there were plenty of positives to come out of the match, with the team getting a chance to improve ahead of the season with a trial against the Bulldogs in Sydney on Saturday.