Siliva Havili offers point of difference for Canberra Raiders

Havili looked lively out of dummy-half with the No.9 jersey on his back, and provided a different running option given he's mostly been used as a loose forward until Hodgson did his knee.

He did have the one error, getting his timing wrong with a forward pass to Ryan Sutton.

Starling's one of the smallest players in the NRL, but he doesn't shirk from the rough stuff in the middle.

Starling came off the bench to play 48 minutes straight in his first game since last year.

He hasn't even had the NSW Cup to keep himself fit in - just ball boy duties as part of the Apollo bubble.

"I thought they did very well. Liva gets a bit of practice with the main squad at nine, more so than Tommy has over the last few weeks," Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.

"The way Tommy Starling took his opportunity and played 50 straight minutes after not playing a lot of football at all shows you the work and training he's done outside the main 17 that have been playing.

"To get through that intensity of match and minutes tonight was a huge effort. There's no shortcuts in his preparation.

"What he's got going for him is all the boys like playing with him ... he's got to back up and do it again now."

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart called on his senior players to lift. And Dunamis Lui took it on board.

He barged over from close range to give the Raiders the early lead.

It was just Lui's fourth try in his 145-game NRL career, with his last one coming almost a year ago to the day.

He also produced two one-on-one strips, in a Hodgson-esque effort.

Oh, and fellow front-rower Josh Papalii, well he was just Josh Papalii. Immense.

Raiders captain Jarrod Croker doesn't just hold almost every record possible in Canberra, he's also the best kick chase in the NRL.

So says Gould.

And Croker helped prove Gould's point when he darted onto a Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad grubber, which are as rare as hen's teeth, to ground a lovely try to bring the Raiders back into the game in the second half.

Croker's made a habit of getting on the end of kicks throughout his 267 games.

"The best kick chaser doesn't miss things like this," Gould said of Croker's try.

Nicoll-Klokstad's kicking game is a hangover from his junior days as a five-eighth.

Hopefully it's not another injury blow, but a tight Michael Oldfield hamstring gave Semi Valemei his NRL debut.

He played the entire second half and never shirked his hard carries out of yardage.

The 21-year-old made one handling error, but he also made a tackle bust and looks like he's come off the Fijian production line of big, powerful wingers.

Rather than being the next Semi Radradra - the former Parramatta Eels cult hero - Stuart hoped he could be the next Noa Nadruku.

Nadruku played with Stuart in the Raiders' 1994 premiership victory.

"He did a great job. He got the opportunity at half-time through Michael Oldfield's got a tight hammy," Stuart said.

"I was really pleased for Semi and I'm sure a lot of people in Fiji would've been watching the game.

"He's a beaut young man ...hopefully one day he might be like Noa Nadruku."