Star hooker Josh Hodgson faces a race against time as the Green Machine waits for scan results on his sternum, while second-rower Elliott Whitehead was a surprise citation by the NRL match review committee for grade two tripping on Brisbane Broncos forward Alex Glenn.

The incident occurred in the 56th minute of the Broncos' one-point victory over the Raiders at Suncorp Stadium, where a Jordan Kahu field goal was needed to separate the teams.

Shifting across to cover Glenn's run close to the Raiders' line, Whitehead's leg made contact with Glenn's.

An early guilty plea would mean Whitehead missed one game with 50 carryover points, while an unsuccessful challenge would see him not only miss the Eels, but the trip to the Gold Coast to face the Titans as well.

The Raiders could also be without Hodgson for the Parramatta game after the 27-year-old left the field early in the second half against the Broncos and didn't return.

He was left clutching his chest following a hit-up from Broncos prop Herman Ese'ese in the 42nd minute.

Hodgson will have scans, but Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said he wouldn't risk the England rake this early in the NRL season.

He will wait until early in the week and then revue where the hooker was at.

"He's got a sternum [injury]. I think he's going to get a scan this week to check what it is. I think it might be the cartilage. We'll have a look at it," Stuart said.

"It's early in the season, we won't risk Josh next week if he needs a week or so off, he's too important to the team."

Stuart was impressed with back-up hooker Adam Clydsdale's efforts when he deputised for Hodgson for most of the second half against the Broncos.

Given Kurt Baptiste has only just resumed running following a ruptured Achilles tendon during the pre-season and no return date has been set.

An injury to Hodgson would leave Stuart with Clydsdale as the only recognised hooker in his squad, although he could use recruit Jordan Turner as a utility player off the bench.

Stuart backed Clydsdale to be able to take over the mantle from Hodgson if required.

"Absolutely. He's doing a very good job for us," he said.

"It's always a big job for players such as Adam filling in for big players such as Josh and I thought he did well for us."

The Raiders struggled to maintain possession against the Broncos, but only went down by a solitary point in slippery conditions at Suncorp.

They made 15 errors compared to the Broncos' nine and turned over the ball in their own half to allow the home side to take control of the game early in the second half when they fell behind by two tries.

But they also got themselves back into the game in the space of a scintillating seven minutes when they responded with two of their own.

Stuart said they knew what they needed to fix and was confident they would be hard to stop offensively when they start holding onto the ball.

"We're handing over too much cheap possession to the opposition and giving them too much of an easy ride with the football and shooting ourselves in the foot and making it very hard on ourselves," he said.

"But on both occasions against North Queensland and the Broncos it was very similar areas that we had where we were dropping too much ball in collisions and tackles and some fundamental drops.

"Players don't mean to drop the ball it's just something we'll improve on as time goes on. We've shown as soon as we have a consistent flow of football we score points."

NRL ROUND FIVE

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Parramatta Eels at Canberra Stadium, 5.30pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.