Canberra Raiders young guns confident of replacing Jordan Rapana

So how will the Raiders replace Jordan Rapana's suspension-induced absence?

The 32-year-old provides a crucial starting point to every Canberra set, helping return the ball form deep within his own half and allowing his forwards to get a much-needed rest.

His seemingly endless runs out of his own end have become a trademark of his game and have shows no signs of diminishing over time.

He averaged 123 run metres per game, which rises to 144m over the past six - including a massive 211m against the Parramatta Eels.

Rapana's absence will see the average age of the Raiders' backline drop to less than 22, with fellow winger Nick Cotric's 23 years and 118 NRL games making him the new elder statesman of the outside backs.

The 20-year-old James Schiller has been named on Rapana's wing to face the Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park on Saturday night and bring up his fourth NRL game in the process.

Cotric backed him to come in and do the job in Rapana's absence, while also looking to help provide the same powerful running out of yardage from his own left wing.

He said it was up to all of the back three - himself, Schiller and fullback Xavier Savage - to lift their efforts to make sure Rapana wasn't missed.

"It's going to be tough. The back three, we've got to pull our sleeves up and get more carries and just be a bit better than we were a couple of weeks ago," Cotric said.

"We've just got to work hard because Rapa takes a lot of carries and does a lot of work for us too, so we've got to step up in that way too."

Matthew Timoko, the centre that will line-up alongside Schiller, joked he'd finally get his hands on the ball now Rapana wasn't there.

But in all seriousness he said all the young fellas in the backline would look to step up this week to cover his loss.

And he backed them to do exactly that.

"Hopefully that means I'll get more carries in this week," Timoko said with a laugh.

"It is a big loss because he's such an integral part of the team. He's one of the veterans, he's been around for years now.

"The young boys are looking forward to stepping up. Schills is looking forward to stepping up and I'm looking forward to stepping up in his place as well.

"I think we'll be good this week."

Timoko has worked on his combination with Schiller on the training track, but they haven't spent a lot of time on the field together.

But the young New Zealander was confident the youthful backline all knew what they had to do.

"We all know our role and what jobs we have to do," Timoko said.

"Schills coming in he already knows his role in the team and we're looking forward to the game this weekend."

NRL ROUND 14

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park, 7.35pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. James Schiller, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Corey Harawira-Naera, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Semi Valemei, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Trey Mooney, 21. Harry Rushton, 22. Adrian Trevilyan.

Broncos squad: 1. Te Maire Martin, 2. Corey Oates, 3. Kotoni Staggs, 4. Herbie Farnworth, 5. Selwyn Cobbo, 6. Ezra Mam, 7. Adam Reynolds (c), 8. Corey Jensen, 9. Billy Walters, 10. Payne Haas, 11. TC Robati, 12. Jordan Riki, 13. Patrick Carrigan. Interchange: 14. Cory Paix, 15. Kobe Hetherington, 16. Thomas Flegler, 17. Keenan Palasia. Reserves: 18. Delouise Hoeter, 19. Rhys Kennedy, 20. Jordan Pereira, 21. Brenko Lee, 22. Ryan James, 23. Xavier Willison, 24. Brendan Piakura.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: