The long-awaited Canberra Raiders comeback set to paint the city green

For a few seconds, thousands of rugby-league starved fans lining the bowls of Canberra Stadium will wait with their hands in the air. Then, you'll hear what they've waited more than eight months for.

Boom, boom, clap!

The hairs stand up on the back of your neck and the butterflies zip around your stomach as your mind works into overdrive trying to stay in sync.

The Viking clap reverberates around Canberra Stadium and Elliott Whitehead leads the Raiders onto their home turf for the first time since July 3 last year.

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Just like that, they're back.

Raiders officials are anticipating a crowd of about 15,000 for the club's long-awaited return to Canberra Stadium for their NRL season opener against the Cronulla Sharks.

The game marks a step towards normality for the city, with the projected crowd figure likely to make it one of the biggest events Canberra has seen since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Friday night marks the Raiders' first game in Canberra since round 16 last year, after which they were made to pack their bags and move to Queensland for the remainder of the 2021 season.

To that point their average home crowd figure through seven games stood at 13,551. A year prior they managed just one game at Canberra Stadium without COVID-19 restrictions capping crowd limits.

You could sense the excitement at Canberra's captain's run on Thursday morning.

Raiders players were like kids on Christmas morning, their woos and yahoos ringing so loud from their Braddon base they likely infiltrated every café along the bustling strip nearby.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has probably lost count of how many preseasons he has closed the book on, how many round ones he has pulled a Raiders uniform on for.

But whether he is lacing up the boots to play or buttoning up a shirt to coach, the feeling is still the same.

"It doesn't change. If you're not excited at this time of the year, you shouldn't be doing the job," Stuart said.

"I'm really happy with how we've prepared right throughout the off-season, not just this week going into this game.

"The boys have been wonderful in their commitment, attitude to hard work right throughout the off-season program. I feel the excitement on the players.

"They know all the hard work is behind them and they've got more hard work [to come] in playing but they love that, that's the part they really enjoy."

Friday marks Nick Cotric's return home after failing to fire in a short-lived move to Canterbury. There is a sense coming back to Canberra will see the 23-year-old winger rediscover the form that turned him into a NSW and Australian representative.

It kickstarts Josh Hodgson's final roll of the dice for the Raiders before he moves to Parramatta. You've got a team headlined by Jack Wighton and Josh Papalii.

James Schiller taps into a famous Mullins bloodline to make his NRL debut. Adam Elliott gets a fresh start at a new club. Young gun Brad Schneider takes the reins at halfback in his first start for the club.

Still need another reason to get excited? Just think of that moment when thousands of fans have their hands in the air, waiting for that sound.

NRL ROUND ONE

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium, 6pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. James Schiller, 4. Matt Timoko, 5. Semi Valemei, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Brad Schneider, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Corey Harawira-Naera, 13. Elliott Whitehead (C). Bench: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Adam Elliott, 17. Corey Horsburgh, 18. Ryan Sutton, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Trey Mooney, 21. Harry Rushton, 22. Jarrod Croker, 23. Xavier Savage, 24. Sam Williams.

Sharks squad: 1. Will Kennedy, 2. Sione Katoa, 3. Jesse Ramien, 4. Ronaldo Mulitalo, 5. Matt Ikuvalu, 6. Matt Moylan, 7. Nicho Hynes, 8. Toby Rudolf, 9. Blayke Brailey, 10. Braden Hamlin-Uele, 11. Briton Nikora, 12. Teig Wilton, 13. Dale Finucane (C). Bench: 14. Aiden Tolman, 15. Siosifa Talakai, 16. Royce Hunt, 17. Andrew Fifita, 18. Luke Metcalf, 19. Jesse Colquhoun, 20. Lachlan Miller, 21. Jensen Taumoepeau, 22. Jayden Berrell, 23. Jonaiah Lualua, 24. Thomas Hazelton.

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