CANBERRA is not happy with the way England staff treated hooker Josh Hodgson’s injury at the World Cup, and the Raiders want a salary cap exemption as they face a serious hooker crisis.

Hodgson collapsed in a tackle 15 minutes into England’s Cup semi final against Tonga on Saturday, but remained on the field for about eight minutes before leaving the ground.

Scans on Monday confirmed an injured anterior cruciate ligament, which will require surgery and is likely to rule him out for most of the 2018 NRL season.

Raiders boss Don Furner told NRL.com he has contacted the England camp requesting a full breakdown of how they reacted to and treated Hodgson’s injury.

Round 20

“We want a full report,” Furner said.

“It’s very, very disappointing, particularly for Josh. We also had Joe Tapine injured in the other game (quarter-final), so it’s also hard on the club.

“We noticed he did seem to go down and get an injury to his knee and then stayed on and did it again.”

England’s Josh Hodgson in action. Source: AFP

“So we want to know from the England medical team how their assessment went. We have a duty of care to our players so we’ve asked for a full report so we can take it from there.

“It’s not going to change the fact that Josh is injured, but it’s a very disappointing day for him and the club.”

The injury to Hodgson means Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has a crisis on his hands.

The club released Adam Clydesale and Erin Clark in the past fortnight, who could have both acted as back-up rakes.

Kurt Baptiste is still contracted to the club but it’s rumoured Canberra is in the process of offloading him to a Super League team to ease salary cap pressure.

Craig Garvey — the former Canterbury fringe hooker who was signed by Canberra last week — could be the last man standing to fill the role. Sam Williams has also returned to the nation’s capital and is an option for Stuart.

And while Hodgson’s injury came while representing England in an international tournament, his salary will be counted under the Canberra salary cap even while he’s unavailable.

Furner wrote to the NRL on Monday to request a salary cap exemption, but admitted he is not hopeful of receiving one from the governing body.