Canberra will keep Cronulla guessing until game day about whether hooker Josh Hodgson will play in Sunday’s NRL battle.

Hodgson, who is presently leading the Dally M Medal count, copped a whack to his thumb in last weekend’s loss to Parramatta, as well as a knock to his knee.

While neither of the injuries are serious, Hodgson was still in pain on Thursday – mainly from his hand, even though he has a full range of movement.

“Thankfully there’s no breaks or anything like that,” he said.

“Passing and that stuff is pretty fine, but to touch it’s still very sore.

“I’m just going to have to wait and see how it settles down, see how it pulls up for the weekend. It might be a last minute thing.

“I don’t want to say that I’m going to be playing and then make myself look like a bit of an idiot and then not turn up on the weekend.”

Hodgson backed Kurt Baptiste, named on the bench, to take his place if he was a late withdrawal.

But Baptiste was confident the first-choice No.9 would take the field at GIO Stadium.

“He’s really tough,” Baptiste said of Hodgson.

“It looks like he’s been injured out there a few times this year, but he’s always stayed out there.

“Unless he’s got a really bad injury, he’ll stay out there. He’s always putting in for the team.”

Hodgson admitted the Raiders were “way off” the mark in their 36-6 defeat to the Eels at Pirtek Stadium, including himself, halves Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin, and fullback Jack Wighton.

“I think we can all put our hand up and say we’re responsible mainly for the attack,” he said.

“We need to fix it up this week and I’m sure we will.”

The Sharks head to the nation’s capital on the back of three successive wins, while the Raiders are looking to avenge their loss to the Eels and their last home defeat to Gold Coast.

“The Sharks are on a bit of roll, but we’re also hungry to bounce back and get a couple of wins on the board back-to-back,” added Hodgson.