Warriors star Shaun Johnson might not be playing, but Canberra know they'll still face "a long day" at the office if they don't shore up their shaky left edge defence against wrecking ball Konrad Hurrell.
South Sydney centre Dylan Walker created all kinds of headaches for Jarrod Croker on Monday night, and Raiders skipper Terry Campese is under no illusions that Hurrell and his Warriors teammates will have taken note ahead of Sunday's NRL clash at Canberra Stadium.
The 100kg Warriors centre opened the scoring in typically damaging fashion against Manly last week.
But it will be his round nine performance at Eden Park that the Raiders will remember most vividly.
In that 54-12 routing, Hurrell created absolute misery for the Raiders with 209 metres, one try, one assist, 11 tackle busts and three linebreaks.
It's a loss Campese admits still hurts.
While halfback Johnson won't be there to steer the ship this time around after re-aggravating a groin injury, Campese admitted the presence of hard-running Hurrell would still pose a big challenge for Croker.
"Yeah it is, it's going to be a big day," Campese said.
"And it can be a long day too if you don't get your defence in order.
"We've been putting a lot of focus into our defence this week in trying to shut him down.
"He's always a problem and seems to make every defence that he plays against look silly.
"We have to be at our best to stop him."
The match will also be the first time Andrew McFadden, a former Raiders player and assistant coach, returns to the Canberra as Warriors coach.
Campese says he's expecting McFadden to have clocked up some overtime in the build up.
"Every coach that's been a part of the club who's gone to coach somewhere definitely comes back with motivation," Campese said.
"They're playing for a top eight spot and I know (McFadden) will definitely want to finish in the semi-finals in his first year as coach."
Share
