Canberra Raiders to unleash halves against Manly Sea Eagles

The Raiders head up to the Central Coast for a mini camp on Monday, with Stuart using it to break up the two big bus rides as much as possible to keep his players fresh for round one.

He'll take a squad of about 26-27 up with him and give those in the mix to face the Cronulla Sharks in their season opener as much game time as possible.

That means both Wighton and Fogarty will start in their first hit-out since the latter's arrival in Canberra during the off-season.

Fogarty had a slight hamstring issue during the pre-season, ruling him out of the NRL All Stars game, but he's right to go against the Sea Eagles.

"Jamal and Jack will start," Stuart said.

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

In further good news for the Raiders, co-captain Jarrod Croker has pulled up well from the trial win over the Sydney Roosters as he continues his comeback from stem-cell surgery on his knee.

Croker played about 66 minutes in the 32-18 victory at Leichhardt Oval and will now back that up against the Sea Eagles.

That puts him in the mix to face the Sharks - fantastic news for the 291-game veteran given there were concerns his chronic knee problem could be career ending.

"He pulled up really well. I saw him the next morning and he was OK, so that all went well," Stuart said.

"He'll get more game time. I was really happy for Jarrod."

When the Raiders were allocated a trial on the central Coast, Stuart opted to incorporate a camp as part of it for the welfare of his players.

Otherwise they'd spend 10-11 hours on a bus within a couple of days either side of the game - something he was desperate to avoid.

"We don't usually travel this much at this time of the season. Because we've been allocated Central Coast we've had to look after the welfare of the players because we would've been in a situation where we would've had 10-11 hours' bus trips in two days and it's not the right preparation going into a season," Stuart said.

"So I've put a camp around it.

"Everybody else will get a game now. We'll take a squad of about 26-27 and try and get everybody some minutes, but definitely the first 20-odd players that I'm looking at for our first 17 will be the priority."

The Raiders will continue to look into getting an individual room for all of their players on away trips due to the threat of COVID-19.

They found out first hand the impact the coronavirus can have just hours before their first trial when Sam Williams and Matt Frawley were ruled out due to Williams' positive rapid antigen test.

While the NRL might not cover the expense - especially since it's believed they'll allow clubs to take a squad of 24 for away games - the Raiders could cover the additional cost themselves.

They've also got winger Jordan Rapana in isolation after he contracted the virus while on NRL All Star duties - where he also picked up a two-game ban for a shoulder charge.

With the New Zealand international isolating in Canberra, the 32-year-old will miss valuable game time he would've otherwise had against Manly.

Instead he'll be eased back to full fitness when he comes out of his seven-day isolation.

"Unfortunately [Rapana] misses out, which is disappointing because he won't get much football now until he starts," Stuart said.

"That puts a little bit of a dampener on getting some minutes for Jordan, which is disappointing because I wanted to play Jordan in the last 30 minutes of the trial."

Stuart confirmed prop Peter Hola was in contention for round one despite injuring his medial ligament against the Roosters, while Adrian Trevilyan and Trey Mooney will undergo concussion protocols after picking up head knocks.

"It's a medial ligament strain and hopefully he'll be available for round one, fingers crossed," he said.

"We're hoping that will be the case, but all our injured guys and COVID boys will all stay back and get their transition period back into full intensity of training."

NRL PRE-SEASON TRIAL

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Manly Sea Eagles at Gosford, 6pm.