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The Canberra Raiders are set to drop club legend Jarrod Croker for Round 1, with the centre set to feature in the reserve grade list when the first teams of 2022 are named tomorrow.
Croker played just 12 games last year but featured in trials as he returns from a knee injury.
“Jarrod is doing a lot more than he could do at training last year after the stem cell surgery,” coach Ricky Stuart told the Daily Telegraph.
“I am really happy that he is progressing well. At this stage we would just like to give him a bit more time.”
Dragons rep duo set to miss out on season opener
More team drama is coming out of Kogarah, where the Dragons are set to leave their NSW Blues rep forward Tariq Sims and England international George Burgess out of their squad for Round 1.
Sims did not feature in the trials as he nursed a calf complaint and was scheduled to return to full training ahead of their Saturday evening clash with the Warriors, though it is unclear if he featured today.
Sims’ contract is up at the end of 2022 and he has already been told that he is free to speak to other clubs.
Burgess played in the Charity Shield victory over South Sydney, but is not yet at full fitness and it is thought that he will benefit from a run in reserve grade before coming back to the NRL.
Clubs bosses say salary cap cheating rife with third-party deals
The NRL still has a massive problem with clubs cheating the salary cap, according to the club chief executives and chairmen.
A poll published by the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday of executives from the clubs has revealed concerning news for NRL powerbrokers with 70% of team officials saying they think there are sides making illegal payments to players outside the salary cap.
Salary cap rorts have been a constant bugbear for the NRL stretching back to 2002 when Canterbury had their competition points taken away for an elaborate system of paying players outside the system.
Melbourne’s cheating of the system was the most infamous, leading to the club playing for no points in 2011 after having their 2007 and 2009 premierships taken from them.
In more recent years, Parramatta and Cronulla have received heavy sanctions after being found to have been breaching the salary cap rules.
Fans hate the shady nature of third-party deals which are paid to players in murky agreements supposed to be “at arm’s length” from clubs because they believe it creates an unfair advantage to richer teams.
The 23 club CEOs and chairmen also rated the referees’ performance a solid 3.5 out of 5, while 70% voted in favour of the recent rule changes improving the sport and 96% said the 40-metre zone tweak to the six-again call would make matches better.
The club executives also denied the NRL had a drug culture problem with only 26% saying it was the case despite incidents in the off-season involving Brandon Smith, Cameron Munster and Reece Walsh.
Roosters skipper James Tedesco underwent stem cell surgery on his left knee during the off-season, when doctors mixed fat and blood and injected it to strengthen his leg.
Now Tedesco feels like he’s running on two fit legs for the first time in years.
“I’ve been hurting after games and just getting through,” the Roosters and NSW State of Origin captain said. “The rehab we’ve been doing and the program I’ve had during this pre-season has been really good.
“I feel stronger than ever and the body feels really good as well. It’s a great start to the season.”
The Roosters open their 2022 campaign against Newcastle on Saturday at the SCG and new recruit Kevin Naiqama tipped Tedesco to wreak havoc this season.
“A fully fit James Tedesco is a dangerous one,” Naiqama said on Monday.
Blues back-rower Angus Crichton is also fully fit after off-season elbow surgery and five-eighth Luke Keary is likely to be lining up in round one after recovering from knee and ankle operations.
“We just need to get the team healthy and we’ll be right,” Tedesco said. “But it takes a bit more than that. We’ve showed that during pre-season. We’ve worked really hard. There have been no complaints, no excuses.
“A lot of our young guys from last year got that experience out there. They’re even more ready for first grade. We have a lot of healthy guys coming back, as well. It’s definitely a big positive for us going into the start of the year.”
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