Canberra Raiders inspired Olympic rowing gold inspires Raiders

The Green Machine helped inspire Australia's men's four to golden glory on Wednesday, with the chant of "Raiders" driving the rowers to the top of the podium over the final 100 metres.

Now the Raiders were drawing inspiration from the quartet, with Canberra coach Ricky Stuart using his foundation's Instagram account to send a message to the four.

"I thought it was fantastic. I was made aware of it from a couple of staff when we were having a beer here the other afternoon," Stuart said.

"I'm not real good on social media so I text a message to my CEO Miranda Garnett of my foundation and asked her to post it out to the boys overseas and just congratulate them.

"They're very inspirational. All those athletes over there at the Olympics work so hard for the one moment.

"They cannot afford a mishap ... and it's just beautiful to see when you're looking at the margin of error these teams and individuals are winning by.

"Just to have the four boys using the Raiders as a little bit of inspiration in their last couple of hundred metres was lovely to hear."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Stuart said both Jack Wighton (ribs) and Elliott Whitehead (shoulder) got through the week's training and would take their place against the Knights.

While they've lost in-form lock Ryan Sutton (chest) for one week, they have a raft of players returning from injury at the business end of the season with Bailey Simonsson (toe), Corey Horsburgh (wrist) and Dunamis Lui (calf) all returning to the selection mix.

Stuart felt the extended time off between games had also refreshed the squad - the nine-day break coming after two five-day breaks in three weeks.

Their mood will be further buoyed by the arrival of the players' partners and families into their Queensland bubble during the week.

Stuart's put a massive emphasis on putting family first since the squad moved their base to the Gold Coast - in all likelihood for the rest of the season.

He's planned for a big family dinner on Sunday night.

After two weeks locked in the bubble, the restrictions have significantly reduced for the Raiders allowing them out in the public - which meant some have hit the golf course.

But Stuart was mindful they still have a job to do.

"We certainly don't want to find holiday mode and they haven't," he said.

"They've done a really good so far in being professional towards their preparation to play a game of footy.

"We definitely haven't found a holiday mode.

"You might see a few photos of the boys around the pool having a barbecue - that's just the environment up here ... but we definitely aren't taking our foot off the pedal towards preparation."

NRL ROUND 20

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Lang Park, 5.30pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. Harley Smith-Shields, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Semi Valemei, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Corey Harawira-Naera, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Hudson Young. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Matthew Timoko, 16. Iosia Soliola, 17. Joseph Tapine. Reserves: 18. Matt Frawley, 19. Ryan James, 20. Bailey Simonsson, 21. Dunamis Lui.

Knights squad: 1. Kalyn Ponga, 2. Enari Tuala, 3. Kurt Mann, 4. Bradman Best, 5. Hymel Hunt, 6. Phoenix Crossland, 7. Jake Clifford, 8. Jacob Saifiti, 9. Jayden Brailey, 10. Daniel Saifiti, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Mitchell Barnett, 13. Connor Watson. Interchange: 14. Sauaso Sue, 15. David Klemmer, 16. Josh King, 17. Brodie Jones. Reserves: 18. Jirah Momoisea, 19. Simi Sasagi, 20. Tex Hoy, 21. Mitchell Pearce.