John Bateman fitness mind games designed to drive Souths coach Wayne Bennett barmy

Raiders halfback and fellow England international George Williams thinks he might be at least another week away.

While Canberra co-captain Jarrod Croker jokes he might've only been named in the 21 to play the South Sydney Rabbitohs because they didn't have enough fit players.

Maybe he was only half joking, with the Raiders currently boasting eight in the injury ward if you include Bateman.

It adds further intrigue to the clash between Canberra coach Ricky Stuart and Souths mentor Wayne Bennett. Will he? Won't he?

Bateman's undergone two bouts of surgery on his troublesome shoulder, which he injured playing for Great Britain last year.

Williams said he's returned to contact training, but felt the Rabbitohs clash could come too soon.

"We did a contact session [on Tuesday] and he was flying about and his shoulder looked fine," the Raiders No.7 revealed.

"Hopefully he's not too far away and it's pretty pleasing to see him back training with the boys. There were a few lads in there and he wasn't holding back.

"I'm not too sure [if he'll play Souths]. I don't think so this week. It's just pleasing to see him back training and back amongst the boys."

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Croker said he didn't even realise Bateman was in the 21-man squad until after it was named.

While he felt the fact the 26-year-old was picked meant he was in the selection mix, he added their injury toll might mean Stuart had no choice but to name him.

Josh Hodgson (knee), Sia Soliola (face), Corey Horsburgh (foot), Bailey Simonsson (shoulder), Curtis Scott (arm), Emre Guler (ankle) and Michael Oldfield (hamstring) were all unavailable.

"I don't know how close he is, but if he's there he's a chance I guess," Croker said.

"We're down on troops as well so we might not have anyone else to put in there.

"I was surprised with that, reading it last night . Hopefully it means he's a little bit closer."

The Raiders come up against a Rabbitohs side that's been in indifferent form this season.

They found themselves trailing Newcastle 20-0 with 15 minutes remaining before running in three late tries to give the Knights a scare.

It was that 15 minutes of form that Williams was expecting Souths to bring on Saturday.

The Raiders have won five of their past seven meetings, including victory in last year's preliminary final.

"We've got to expect the last 20 minutes that they showed on the weekend," Williams said.

"They showed what they're capable of and they put Newcastle on the back foot for the last 15-20 minutes and they were really hanging on.

"We're expecting the best of them - injuries or not. We've got some injuries, but I'm sure both teams will be ready.

"Every game's a danger game. That's one thing I've learnt in the NRL - if you're that little bit off you can get beat by any team.

"That's something I'm enjoying - the competitiveness of every week. You've got to be on the ball every time you play."

Croker felt the Raiders had improved both defensively and with their ball handling over the past fortnight, which has seen them beat the Roosters and go close to knocking off the Storm.

Their tackling efficiency against the Roosters was 89.7 per cent - their second-best this season - while they only had seven handling errors - way down from the 15 they had against both Parramatta and Manly.

"One of the big ones over the last couple of weeks [was] our error rate and making our tackles in defence," Croker said.

"Our numbers the last two weeks have been a lot better, especially making our tackles.

"I think we were better defensively in the loss to the Storm than we were in the win against the Dragons.

"We only had seven or eight errors on the weekend and some weekends we've been cooking up 15. Things like that put us right in the game and make us hard to beat."

NRL ROUND 11

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v South Sydney Rabbitohs at Canberra Stadium, 7.35pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Jordan Rapana, 5. Semi Valemei, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Siliva Havili, 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead,13. Kai O'Donnell. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Joe Tapine, 16. Ryan Sutton, 17. Harley Smith-Shields. Reserves: 18. Sam Williams, 19. Darby Medlyn, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. John Bateman.

Rabbitohs squad: 1. Alex Johnston, 2. Corey Allan, 3. Campbell Graham, 4. Dane Gagai, 5. Jaxson Paulo, 6. Cody Walker, 7. Adam Reynolds, 8. Tevita Tatola, 9. Damien Cook, 10. Thomas Burgess, 11. Jaydn Su'A, 12. Bayley Sironen, 13. Cameron Murray. Interchange: 14. Mark Nicholls, 15. Hame Sele, 16. Patrick Mago, 17. Jack Johns. Reserves: 18. Kurt Dillon, 19. Keaon Koloamatangi, 20. Troy Dargan, 21. Steven Marsters.