Electrifying winger Mark Nawaqanitawase is set to make his return from injury for the Roosters on Friday, but they will be without Cody Ramsey who is crook and will miss the trip to Canberra.

Nawaqanitawase hasn’t played since round 9 when he suffered a syndesmosis injury that required surgery and ruled him out of a potential NSW Blues debut.

But he got through Wednesday’s training session and is set to return in a huge boost for the Roosters who are without veteran winger Daniel Tupou.

“Yesterday was the real test for us to make sure that he was right to tick off everything he needed after that syndesmosis (injury). It’s looking good for him to play tomorrow,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.

“In some areas he brings a creativity and a finish that’s really important. He’s a high-quality player.

“But then in other areas, that’s just a team concept rather than an individual that’s going to change it. It’s a whole-team concept, so no individual coming in or out (is going to change that). It has been a collective.”

Nawaqanitawase will take his place on the right wing, with Robinson confirming Ramsey won’t play against the Raiders.

“Cody’s actually a bit crook,” he said, with Ramsey’s comeback after 1337 days out already one of the feel-good stories of the year.

“We only just found that out sort of half an hour ago, so he won’t travel with us.”

Ball control has been a major focus for the premiership fancies this week after they made 18 errors against the Storm on Saturday on a night they managed just one try.

That performance came after they made 14 mistakes at Magic Round in the loss to North Queensland, with an animated Robinson giving it to his players in the Melbourne sheds after the loss.

“The first thing is to discuss it, and then the second thing is to do it at training,” he said.

“That’s a really key part of the game is talking about it, but training it, and then it’s up to us to perform that tomorrow night.

“It’s not the single focus, either. You want to improve that, and we’ve been pretty good at that this year. The last two games has not been what we wanted, So we talk about it, practise it, and then go out and do it.”

Holding onto the ball in 2026 has been imperative for teams under the new rules that has rewarded possession and territory.

The Roosters have always played an attacking brand of footy that has sometimes resulted in high error counts, but they have shown at different stages this year that elite ball movement and high completions can coexist.

“I think we’ve shown that we can do both,” Robinson said.

“I go back to the Manly game where it was sort of about 96 per cent (completions). I think we had one (error) in that game, and there’s been others throughout that period where we’ve been able to do both.

“We’ve been able to score points but then also control the ball, and that’s the game. That’s pretty clear what’s needed in the game, and our job is to go out there and get it done.”

Originally published as ‘He won’t travel with us’: Roosters to welcome back Kangaroos star, but they’ve lost a winger for the trip to Canberra