Canberra halfback Jamal Fogarty has been forced back to "square one," following the injury of fullback Xavier Savage in the pre-season challenge.
Savage broke his jaw in Sunday's pre-season challenge against the Bulldogs and has been ruled out of the Raiders' Round 1 encounter with the Cowboys.
The injury will bring winger Jordan Rapana into the number-one jersey for this week's trial against the West Tigers, a position he has only played 14 games in at a top-grade level.
"It's not ideal going through the whole pre-season with Xav - myself and Xav have worked really hard since I've come back to pre-season to get that combination going and just to get a steady start to the season," Fogarty told AAP.