Canberra Raiders Latest

Kai Pearce-Paul nearly joined the Raiders but chose the Wests Tigers, swayed by coach Benji Marshall's influence.

The Australian

He's been one of the Wests Tigers' best signings of 2026, but Kai Pearce-Paul could easily have been running out onto Leichhardt Oval in a Raiders jersey.

The England second-rower was a hot commodity when he hit the open market last year, and says Canberra were leading late in negotiations, helped by his countrymen in the capital and interest from coach Ricky Stuart.

"Towards the end, the Raiders was the biggest name on my list," Pearce-Paul said of his contract negotiations.

"Had a few chats there, and I had a few of my mates there, the Pommy boys over at the Raiders, too."

Pearce-Paul revealed the swaying point for him was coach Benji Marshall, but the Raiders didn't go down without a fight for the off-contract Newcastle Knight.

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Heamasi Makasini was dropped from the Wests Tigers squad due to injury and performance issues, confirmed by his moon boot.

Zero Tackle

It has been revealed injury played as much a role in Heamasi Makasini's axing from first-grade for the Wests Tigers' Round 8 clash with the Canberra Raiders as anything else.

Makasini, alongside Patrick Herbert was left out of the 22-man squad by Benji Mrshall when teams were named for the coming weekend on Tuesday afternoon.

Herbert held onto a spot in the matchday squad by being named in jersey 18, while Makasini was left out entirely.

It came after he made a number of errors during the Tigers' Round 7 loss to the Brisbane Broncos, however, it has now emerged he has bone bruising after he arrived at training on Wednesday morning wearing a moon boot.

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Simi Sasagi is out with a hamstring injury, joining Josh Papalii on the sidelines.

Canberra Daily

Matchwinner Simi Sasagi will be missing from Canberra's line-up to face the high-flying Wests Tigers, ruled out of the Leichhardt Oval clash due to a hamstring injury.

The centre was the Raiders' biggest weapon in their four-point win over Melbourne last round, pulling off a number of crucial plays late in the match while also opening the scoring with a try.

He finished the night with a team-high 182 run metres.

But after going down at training on Tuesday, Sasagi will join Josh Papalii on the sidelines for Thursday night's contest, with the veteran prop already ruled out for six to eight weeks with a calf injury.

Coach Ricky Stuart said it was a "massive" blow to lose Sasagi, attributing it to the heavy workload...

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