RAIDERS star Sia Soliola knew he’d done it straight away. What he didn’t know was that his broken cheekbone would force him into a 24 hour road trip.

Soliola faces four to six weeks on the sidelines, likely ruling him out for the rest of the regular season, after he took a knock that broke his cheekbone in Canberra’s heartbreaking loss to the Cowboys on Saturday.

Cheekbone injuries can worsen on flights, so Soliola’s bad news was compounded when he was told he would need to jump in a hire car with two Raiders staff and hike it back to the nation’s capital the long way.

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At least he hasn’t let it get him down though, with the star back-rower joking to the Canberra Times that it gave him a chance to do some sightseeing.

“It’s one of those things that comes with the job, it’s just unfortunate it happened all the way up in Townsville,” Soliola was quoted.

“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.

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“In these circumstances, I don’t want to be anywhere but home.

“(Raiders football manager) JB (Bonasera) and Nige (Raiders strength and conditioner Nigel Ashley-Jones), we know a lot about each other now. We’ve just finished Nige’s life and slowly getting onto JB’s.”

The trio reportedly hit the road as soon as Soliola was told the extent of his injury on Sunday morning and weren’t due to arrive in Canberra until early Monday evening after staying overnight in Darren Lockyer’s home town Roma on Sunday.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-league/canberra-raiders/injury-forces-canberra-raiders-player-sia-solioa-to-drive-home-from-townsville-20150803-giqcfs.html