Hearing your season could be over is bad enough, let alone being forced to drive 24 hours to get home.

That's the scenario Canberra Raiders forward Sia Soliola faced after badly fracturing his cheekbone in Saturday's 32-24 loss to North Queensland in Townsville.

Soliola faces four to six weeks on the sidelines, meaning he would be racing the clock to play finals should the 10th-placed Raiders qualify.

Air expands while flying at altitude. With a cheekbone fracture, air within the injury can expand and cause further damage.

Given flying only worsens a cheekbone injury Soliola, Raiders football manager John Bonasera and strength and conditioner Nigel Ashley-Jones were forced to get a hire car and make the 2200-kilometre trek home.

The trio began the monster road trip as soon as Soliola was told his injury news on Sunday morning, and they weren't due to arrive in Canberra until early Monday evening.

They stayed overnight in Darren Lockyer's home town Roma on Sunday night before resuming the journey at 4am Monday.

In another huge blow for Canberra's finals hopes, in-form hooker Josh Hodgson will miss 1-2 weeks with a high ankle sprain suffered against the Cowboys.

Winger Edrick Lee has copped a one game ban for tripping Justin O'Neill, and his obvious replacement Sisa Waqa is expected to miss another week with a knee problem.

However the news was better for five-eighth Blake Austin, who is free to line up against his old side the Tigers after accepting an early guilty plea and 93 carryover points for a grade one dangerous throw on Cowboy Gavin Cooper.

Soliola's face is badly swollen and the 28-year-old knew his cheekbone was broken as soon as he suffered the injury early in the second half.

After passing a concussion test the former New Zealand international played on to help his side, which had squandered an early 18-0 lead.

It's reminiscent of Sam Burgess' heroics in last year's grand final, where he played on with a fractured eye socket.

But Soliola said he never second-guessed his decision to go back onto the field.

"When I did it I knew I did it straight away," he said.

"I played on that set and they scored that set, then I had to come off to do the concussion check.

"I was fine so I came back on and finished the game.

"I was focussed on the scoreboard because obviously we were behind, and I wanted to come back on.

"It wasn't really a tough [decision] at all, I wanted to come back on and finish it off.  At the time all I was thinking about was hopefully getting that win.

"When I get back to Canberra we'll see the specialist [on Tuesday] and go from there, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to go in [for surgery]."

The loss of Soliola, in-form hooker Hodgson (ankle sprain) and Lee is the first real adversity the Raiders have faced this year.

Aside from halfback Sam Williams who has missed a handful of games, Canberra has enjoyed one of the best injury runs in the competition.

Only Melbourne Storm recruit Sisa Waqa (knee) was unavailable for the Cowboys match and he could be fit to return this week in place of Edrick Lee, who has been suspended for a week for tripping Justin O'Neill.

Soliola joked the injury at least provided the chance to do some sightseeing as they made the journey down the eastern seaboard.

"It's one of those things that comes with the job, it's just unfortunate it happened all the way up in Townsville," he said.

"At least I've got to see a lot of Australia.

"I got the scans on Sunday morning and they said it was broken. They gave me the option of staying up there, but they would have had to find someone to operate and [I'd have to] stay two weeks up there post-operation.

"That's when we decided to drive down. I couldn't fly because with the high altitude, it would have put more pressure on the cheek bone and probably caused more damage.

"In these circumstances, I don't want to be anywhere but home.

"JB [Bonasera] and Nige, we know a lot about each other now. We've just finished Nige's life and slowly getting onto JB's."

Soliola's work rate on the left edge has been massive in his first season back in the NRL after a long Super League stint with St Helens.

Bench back-rower Jarrad Kennedy looks his likely replacement, and Soliola is adamant the Raiders have enough depth to fill the void left by himself and Hodgson to make finals.

Josh McCrone and Glen Buttriss are possible options to replace Hodgson at hooker, with Kurt Baptise likely to be elevated into the starting side.

"I've got all the confidence the boys will still kick on and get the job done," Soliola said.

"We've got JK [Kennedy] there and there's even guys like Mitch Barnett who has been going really good for Mounties, and Mark Nicholls as well.

"Hodgson's last couple of performances have been important in taking a lot of heat off Austo [Blake Austin] and Sammy [Williams] as well.

"But here's a few guys there who can do the job for us, Buttsy [Buttriss] has got a lot of experience."