The Redcliffe Dolphins having already won their first NRL game takes some of the pressure off, but the Canberra Raiders are still desperate to avoid being the second win for the new kids on the blocks.
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On the flipside, Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty wants to be the first team to beat them - especially at their Redcliffe home.
The Dolphins kicked off their time in the NRL with an upset victory over the Sydney Roosters at Lang Park last weekend and will take on Canberra at their first Redcliffe home game.
Fogarty was expecting a hostile reception, having played Queensland Cup games there during his time with the Gold Coast Titans.
Nobody wanted to be the first team to lose to Wayne Bennett's side, but the Roosters have now taken that mantle.
But Fogarty said they were still desperate to get their own first win of the season, having gone so close to pulling off a gutsy come-from-behind win against North Queensland - only to go down to a Chad Townsend field goal.
"They played really well last week and it's probably good the Roosters lost to take a bit of that heat off for their first win, but we're going out there to do a job," Fogarty said.
"We want to stop them and keep them to minimum tries as possible, but we also want to score a couple and get our first win of the season.
"It's going to add a bit of motivation for us. It would be nice to go there and be the first team to knock them off - especially at their first home game - that would be awesome.
"We lost last week and we weren't happy with it so we want to try and change the result this week."
Raiders second-rower Hudson Young dismissed any chance of the Raiders taking the Dolphins lightly.
He pointed to Bennett having basically acquired the Melbourne Storm forward pack, with the Bromwich brothers and Felise Kaufusi all switching to become foundation players.
"I'm not too sure why anyone would take an NRL team lightly," Young said.
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"You see their forward pack - most of them have come from Melbourne and they've won how many comps?
"They recruited world-class players all across the competition so they're a strong team."
Fogarty said the Raiders simply needed to get rid of the silly errors and penalties from their opening round clash against the Cowboys.
That will be helped by their mini-camp on the Sunshine Coast, which has effectively given them an extra day's preparation for the Dolphins through not returning to Canberra from Townsville on Sunday before flying back up to Brisbane again this week.
Fogarty said the camp would help on multiple fronts - including everything from team bonding to helping them prepare for round two.
While the Raiders managed three second-half tries against the Cowboys, their attack struggled to click at times - something Fogarty also said would benefit from the week away.
"Obviously being able to stay up here and get our sessions in, and spend a bit of time away from footy [with each other] hopefully that's going to help," he said.
"But also we're saving a couple of hours in flight time too ... that's eight hours we've gained and a bit more time for us to train and be physically and mentally ready for the weekend."
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David Polkinghorne
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
Covering the Raiders, Cavalry, cycling and racing, plus everything else that involves sport in the ACT, for The Canberra Times. Basically I love sport and watching it is a full-time job. Email: david.polkinghorne@canberratimes.com.au
