Former Canberra Raiders consultant Michael Ennis finds opportunity close to home with the Parramatta Eels.

Ennis loved his time in lime green and leaves with a heavy heart, having signed on with the Parramatta Eels in a similar consultancy role to what he had with the Green Machine.

He'll work with the Eels' dummy halves, just as he did with Canberra's, and has an induction day on Wednesday before starting in earnest Monday week.

With his young family growing up and his media commitments in Sydney, the travel was an issue.

He was grateful for the opportunity and relished the chance to work with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart and his team.

Being part of Canberra's charge to the 2019 NRL grand final was a special memory for the premiership winning hooker.

"Absolutely loved my time down there in Canberra working alongside Rick and Don [Furner], and all the staff and players there," Ennis said.

"I really enjoyed it. It's a great club, it really is. It was just the travel and the distance brought on a lot of challenges with work commitments in Sydney and the kids getting a bit older.

"I've learnt so much. I said to [Rick] the other day it's the type of footy club you'd want your kids at.

"To see the boys go through to a grand final in 2019 was an incredible experience.

"To be able to live that and ride it with Rick in the box was just an incredible experience for me."

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He was confident the Raiders would bounce back after a disappointing 2021 campaign.

Ennis said the loss of fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (neck) early in the season was an especially big one, compounded by halfback George Williams' return to England due to homesickness.

But he felt the roster was in good shape with the emergence of young talent like outside backs Xavier Savage and Harley Smith-Shields.

"With the squad that they've got and the calibre of players they've got, some of the young kids that we saw get an opportunity," Ennis said.

"I really like what we've seen in the early stages from Smith-Shields and Xavier Savage, these type of guys.

"It's exciting. They've got a good roster there and ... I'm sure they'll have a good season next year."

That equally applied to the Raiders' No.9 options.

Hodgson's future's up in the air at the moment, with the Wests Tigers in discussions to lure the England rake up the Hume Highway on a two-year deal.

While he's signed with the Green Machine for next season, they've given him permission to explore his options if he can get a longer-term deal.

But talks have stalled after Wests changed some of their football staff.

Regardless of whether Hodgson stayed or went, Ennis was bullish about the Raiders' dummy half options.

He was delighted with Tom Starling's development and said they also had two good young options in Adrian Trevilyan and Toby Thorburn coming through.

"Their stocks in the dummy half role are excellent," Ennis said.

"Young Trevilyan, who's been a well-known schoolboy up in Queensland, but unfortunately with the COVID situation it hasn't given him the opportunity to show what he's capable of, but he's got a wonderful passing game, he's got good speed out of dummy half.

"There's definitely a player there that's got a good future in front of him.

"Then there's another young boy there too they've got really big wraps on, Thorburn."