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Raiders take depleted squad to Nines

Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer will headline a no-frills Canberra line-up lacking in star power for next week’s Auckland Nines.

The Raiders halves and forward Luke Bateman are the only three players who have tickets to New Zealand that featured in the Raiders’ preliminary loss to Melbourne last year.

NRL stars Jordan Rapana, Shannon Boyd, Josh Hodgson, Joey Leilua, Josh Papalii, Jack Wighton and captain Jarrod Croker have all been kept in cotton wool.

Dave Taylor, who is on a train-and-trial deal with the club in search of a fulltime contract in Ricky Stuart’s squad, has also been left out.

Stuart himself will remain in the nation’s capital, instead sending assistant Dean Pay to coach.

New faces Dunamis Lui and Jordan Turner will wear the lime green for the first time while veteran Jeff Lima, who made just six NRL appearances last year, was named captain.

“It’ll be good for the young fellas and the new boys that are coming to the club. It’ll good for them to impress the coach,” Lima said.

“We’ve got a young team but they’re very energetic. I don’t think experience is going to be better than most, if you hold onto the ball the longest, you’ll probably win the game.

“We’ve got a few young guys who are pretty quick ni our team. Young Zac Santo, Thomas Cronan, and Nick Cotric, he’s trained well, most of the guys have trained well for this.”

Canberra squad: Zac Santo, Eddio Aiono, Thomas Cronan, Brent Naden, Nick Cotric, Blake Austin, Aidan Sezer, Dunamis Lui, Adam Clydsdale, Jeff Lima (c), Luke Bateman, Scott Sorensen, Jordan Turner, Paul Roache, Mark McCormack, Anthony Moraitis, Makahesi Makatoa, Topi Tafua.

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