The Canberra Raiders have revealed captain Elliott Whitehead will miss an indefinite period with a pec strain after accepting a two-game suspension for a dangerous contact charge levelled against him by the NRL's match review committee following Sunday's loss to the Manly Sea Eagles.
Whitehead received two charges out of the game, both totalling a $3000 fine. He has accepted the charge for a careless high tackle with an early guilty plea and will pay $3000, however, enter a "no contest" on the dangerous contact charge.
That avoids the $3000 fine, but accepts a two-game suspension without heading to the NRL judiciary.
The reason for him accepting that charge became evident on Tuesday afternoon as Canberra confirmed Whitehead would be ruled out for an "indefinite period" with a "minor pec strain."
While no return timeline on the veteran Englishman has been set, it's believed he may have entered no contest on both charges if he was likely to miss more than the two-week time period he is now suspended for.
The Raiders play the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers over the next fortnight, with the game against South Sydney not allowing the club to play Hudson Young due to his Origin selection.
It means Corey Harawira-Naera and breakout lock forward Corey Horsburgh feature in an all-new second-row combination. It's a combination which could continue against the Tigers given just a 48-hour window for Young to back-up from Origin.
The Tigers could also be without Apisai Koroisau for that game, while the Rabbitohs will certainly be missing Latrell Mitchell, Cameron Murray and Jai Arrow this weekend.
Whitehead's earliest return date will be a Friday evening Round 15 clash against the New Zealand Warriors.
