The conversation that brought Nick Cotric home to the Canberra Raiders

After a gap year at the Bulldogs, Nick Cotric's back on the Raiders' left wing where he'll celebrate his 100^th NRL game for the club alongside the man who was there when it all began.

And Canberra co-captain Jarrod Croker played a role in getting the band back together when the 23-year-old reached out to him while contemplating a return to his hometown.

Now they'll team up on the Raiders' left edge - just like they did when Cotric made his NRL debut in round one of the 2017 season.

"Nicky's 100^th game for the club, which is a massive achievement for someone so young," Croker said.

"He should've had it last year if it was up to, but he darted off for a little while - but he's back home where he belongs now.

"I'm really looking forward to playing with him. I remember him ringing me in the off-season and he was saying he was thinking of coming back, there was all these options.

"And I told him to come home and how much I wanted him to come back and play footy alongside him again.

"That's another massive opportunity Friday night. I'm looking forward to having my little mate back there and hopefully we can have a bit of fun."

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It's just one of the reasons Croker was desperate to help return the Raiders to their winning ways.

Another? The aforementioned Old Boys night. The Raiders will celebrate their 40^th anniversary since entering the NSWRL in 1982 this weekend - both at the Bulldogs game and then at a "Forever Green" function on Saturday night, where there'll be further inductions into their Hall of Fame.

After a streak of five consecutive losses, Croker said they needed to honour the past greats of the Green Machine with a return to winning ways.

"In the tough couple of weeks we've had and the tough period we're going through to come out [Friday] night in front of the Old Boys and to show them what the jersey really means to us that's what this week's about," Croker said.

NRL ROUND NINE

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Canterbury Bulldogs at Canberra Stadium, 6pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Matthew Timoko, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Matt Frawley, 7. Brad Schneider, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Adam Elliott, 10. Joseph Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Corey Harawira-Naera, 16. Sebastian Kris, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Harry Rushton, 19. Emre Guler, 20. Xavier Savage, 21. Trey Mooney, 22. Sam Williams, 23. James Schiller, 24. Peter Hola.

Bulldogs squad: 1. Matt Dufty, 2. Brent Naden, 3. Aaron Schoupp, 4. Jake Averillo, 5. Josh Addo-Carr, 6. Matt Burton, 7. Kyle Flanagan, 8. Luke Thompson, 9. Jeremy Marshall-King, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Corey Waddell, 12. Tevita Pangai Junior, 13. Josh Jackson. Interchange: 14. Bailey Biondi-Odo. 15. Joe Stimson, 16. Max King, 17. Ava Seumanufagai. Reserves: 20. Jackson Topine, 19. Joshua Cook, 21. Brandon Wakeham, 22. Reece Hoffman, 23. Jayden Okunbor, 24. Paul Alamoti, 25. Chris Patolo.

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