Cody Walker suffers fresh injury blow as Rabbitohs thumped by Raiders in Josh Papalii's record-breaking game

South Sydney five-eighth Cody Walker suffered a fresh injury blow in his side's heavy defeat to the Raiders on Sunday, hurting his groin in his return from a five-game stint on the sidelines.

Walker limped off with a groin injury in the 57th minute of the clash in Canberra, won by the hosts 36-12 as Josh Papalii played his 319th NRL game to become the most capped Raider of all time.

On a fairytale afternoon for Papalii and the Raiders faithful, "Big Papa" barged over for two tries in the final 10 minutes of the game.

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The afternoon was far from enjoyable for Walker, who limped off injured in his first appearance since round seven.

"Cody Walker looked really unimpressed, unhappy as he stormed up the tunnel," said Fox League sideline reporter Eloise Sohier.

"[He called] for the doctors for about 60 seconds before he actually left the field."

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Assistant Rabbitohs coach Ben Hornby, who spoke to media instead of Wayne Bennett in the post-match press conference, had little information on Walker's injury.

"He said he felt it after he made a play there, and he just said it was feeling sore, so we just thought [we'd] get him off," Hornby said.

"[We didn't want to] make it any worse.

"We'll see what the scans say."

The home crowd was silenced in just the fifth minute when Rabbitohs prop Keaon Koloamatangi put his side on the board, barging over to score and continue his push for a NSW State of Origin recall.

Canberra was dealt another blow when in-form rookie Savelio Tamale was forced off with a knee injury in the 14th minute.

The young winger, who's been a revelation for Canberra since his move to the club, landed awkwardly and was in agony as trainers assisted him from the field.

Souths scored the first two tries of the match through Koloamatangi and Alex Johnston, who's now only 11 four-pointers away from matching Ken Irvine's competition record.

But the Raiders only trailed 12-6 at half-time after 20-year-old five-eighth Ethan Strange crossed for a try in the 38th minute.

Canberra then put Bennett's men to the sword in the second half, running in five tries and keeping the visitors scoreless.

Strange grabbed his second try of the game in the 50th minute, before Zac Hosking dotted down just before the hour mark.

Simi Sasagi scored shortly after, on the back of a Jamal Fogarty bomb, a Sebastian Kris bat-back and a Hudson Young pass.

One of the most surreal 10-minute passages in Raiders history followed as Papalii crashed over, not once but twice, in his milestone game.

The inspirational prop, who surpassed Jason Croker's all-time Raiders games record, stepped up to the tee after his second try and nailed the conversion.

Meanwhile, firebrand forward Corey Horsburgh got through a mountain of work in his bid to win back a Queensland jersey, making 119 run metres from 13 carries, and laying a Canberra-high 49 tackles, in 60 minutes of football.