Canberra Raiders resist past greats for NRL Nines

Raiders veteran Sia Soliola is looking forward to the trip to Perth, but admits it's another disruption to their already shortened pre-season.

Former Bronco Corey Parker, Ex-Bulldog Andrew Ryan and recently retired Titan Michael Gordon will all play in the tournament on February 14-15 - as will ex-AFL footballer Nick Davis.

In the past Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has called on Jason Croker and Ken Nagas, but this year he will only use the current squad.

Soliola, Sam Williams and Elliott Whitehead are confirmed for the Raiders Nines squad, with Soliola hinting it as a test run for their trip to Perth for their grand final rematch against the Sydney Roosters in round 11.

The Raiders had a shortened pre-season to start with after making the final game of the season, but have also been disrupted by bushfire smoke and freak hailstorms.

Now, with every minute precious in the countdown to round one, they have to travel to the other side of Australia for the Nines.

Soliola felt the fact they only had a small turnover in their roster would help them counteract the disruptions.

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"Yeah [it's a disruption], but it's one of those things. We'll be playing there again when we play against the Roosters as well," Soliola said.

"Yeah a little bit of a disturbance during the off-season, but in saying that we haven't had too many disruptions in terms of our roster.

"It's not like we've got a whole heap of guys coming in or we're outside the eight where we do have a bit more time.

"We've got a good group where everyone understands their roles now in comparison to last year and we can really get on the front foot."

Williams said it was a fun weekend.

"The exciting part about that is we can substitute whenever we want," he said.

"I don't think it will be long stints out there. It's all good. If I happen to get in the clear I'll always be coming straight off anyway."