Jeremy Hickmans brings speed and intensity to Canberra Raiders

New Raiders strength-and-conditioning boss Jeremy Hickmans hails from Jersey, in the English Channel, and he took charge of the start of the young NRL squad members' start of pre-season on Monday.

It brings in Wayne Bennett's former right-hand man, with Hickmans having spent 14 years working alongside the super coach.

Hickmans' focus will be on speed and intensity during the gruelling pre-season, as the Raiders look to adapt to the faster speed of the game caused by the NRL's six-again rules.

Hodgson's in talks with the Wests Tigers over a possible two-year deal, after the Raiders gave him permission to explore his options.

If nothing eventuates, he'll see out the final year of his contract with Canberra and has already been seen popping into Raiders HQ to train.

Hickmans' arrival added another Englishman to the Green Machine, along with Hodgson, co-captain Elliott Whitehead, Ryan Sutton and Harry Rushton.

He'll be guided by what he sees over the coming weeks, but said speed would be key.

Five Raiders players have already been working on that themselves, having signed on with the Roger Fabri Speed Academy during their off-season.

Some of those - Bailey Simonsson, Harley Smith-Shields and Brad Schneider - began their pre-seasons on Monday.

If they test well over the coming days they could earn themselves some extra time off before the senior players return on November 19.

"The last few years the game's changed quite a bit and I've been on the periphery a little bit," Hickmans said.

"But a lot of my philosophies are based around speed and intensity anyways and it lends itself nicely to the way the game's changed.

"One of the things we've talked about is how the team can change and how we can bring that little bit of dynamism."

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Hickmans is returning to rugby league after a couple years' hiatus.

He left the Brisbane Broncos when Bennett did and spent some time working with Swimming Australia, netball and Brisbane's AFLW side.

But an opportunity to return to the NRL opened up when former Raiders strength-and-conditioning boss Nigel Ashley-Jones returned to rugby union.

Hickmans knew Raiders recruitment boss Peter Mulholland from their time at Newcastle and he reached out to him following Ashley-Jones's departure.

He also knows Canberra's English contingent, having spent time working with the England national team.

"Basically I worked for Wayne Bennett for those 14 years so went Broncos, Dragons, Knights back to Broncos," he said.

"When he got the sack I did as well unfortunately.

"It was sort of good because it gave me a few years to get out of the game and probably needed that break, that little bit of variety.

"I always had one eye on potentially getting back into the NRL, but [there was] probably only a few teams I was interested in going to. I wasn't going to jump back in for the sake of it."