The Canberra Raiders will be forced into a late switch for their Round 3 clash with the Gold Coast Titans, with Nick Cotric succumbing to a quad injury.
Cotric, who spent most of last year injured at the Canterbury Bulldogs, moved back to the Canberra Raiders late in the off-season this year following Bailey Simonsson's exit to the Parramatta Eels.
After suiting up for the Raiders in Round 1 for what was a nail-biting win over the Cronulla Sharks, Cotric was a late withdrawal from Saturday's Round 2 loss to the North Queensland Cowboys.
Coach Ricky Stuart was hoping to call upon Cotric to rejoin the side this weekend, naming him on one wing, with Jordan Rapana to return from suspension from other, with both James Schiller and Sebastian Kris to miss out.
However, The Canberra Times are reporting that Cotric has failed to recover from the injury which left him watching from the sidelines during a horrid performance in Townsville.
Given the Raiders are still struggling in their backline thanks to injuries to Harley Smith-Shields and Jarrod Croker, another week off for Cotric is hardly the ideal scenario for Stuart and the green machine.
It's understood Kris is in line to replace him with another game on the wing, as coach Stuart continues to experiment with Semi Valemei as a centre.
Matthew Timoko continues to hold onto his position in the centres, while Xavier Savage also continues to be overlooked, but is amongst the reserves and could yet challenge Kris and Schiller for Cotric's spot given the woeful performance from Canberra last weekend.
The Raiders will trim their squad to 19 players 24 hours before kick-off and then confirm their team 60 minutes out from game time, scheduled for 7:35pm (AEDT) on Saturday evening against the Titans.
