'I was a bit worried': Albert Hopoate reveals how he felt following Ricky Stuart's promise

But his faith and career-best form has been repaid in spades with a two-year contract extension.

Coincidentally his re-signing has come just days before he faces his old NRL club, Manly, at Canberra Stadium on Sunday, where he'll come up against a former Raider who played a massive role in helping him overcome back-to-back knee reconstructions as an 18 and 19-year-old.

Hopoate was full of praise for Lachlan Croker, the Sea Eagles hooker helping him through the tough times.

The 22-year-old has played eight NRL games this season - the most he's managed in a campaign in his 20-game career.

He's also in career-best form, highlighted by the fact he's keeping both Xavier Savage and Nick Cotric out of the team.

Cotric will return from a hamstring injury in NSW Cup this weekend.

The Canberra Times revealed Hopoate was willing to play against Canterbury in Magic Round and miss his sister's wedding, but Stuart reassured him he would keep his spot upon his return.

He returned for the win over Parramatta, scoring a try, making three tackle busts, an offload and running for 129 metres.

Hopoate was glad to have a coach who was so family orientated.

"I was a bit worried. When I was asking him I said, 'If you want me to play I'll play', but he guaranteed my spot the next week and told me to go to the wedding and that it was just a game of football," he said.

"It was really comfortable talking to him about it because I come from a big family so family's very important to me.

"Having a club and a coach that's really family orientated is good."

Hopoate played five games for Manly in 2020 before joining the Green Machine the following year.

He made his debut alongside Croker, who came through the Raiders' junior ranks.

Croker's also had his issues with knee reconstructions and was an important shoulder for Hopoate to lean on after going through two of his own.

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Now he's put that all behind him to be in career-best form and he was looking forward to coming up against his old teammate.

"I was at Manly at the time and had a few older boys who kept pushing me through and I had boys in rehab that really helped me," Hopoate said.

"All credit to the boys that kept me going. This is my dream so I didn't want to give up on my dream so young and I'm grateful I'm here today.

"Lachlan Croker is one of the role models for me because he went through the same thing when I was going through ACL [reconstructions].

"We were going through it together so it'll be pretty funny going up against him this weekend."

NRL ROUND 12

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Manly Sea Eagles at Canberra Stadium, 4.05pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Sebastian Kris, 2. Albert Hopoate, 3. Jarrod Croker (C), 4. Matt Timoko, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Tom Starling, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (C), 13. Corey Horsburgh. Interchange: 14. Danny Levi, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Pasami Saulo, 17. Ata Mariota. Reserves: 18. James Schiller, 19. Hohepa Puru, 20. Brad Schneider, 21. Corey Harawira-Naera, 22. Nick Cotric.

Sea Eagles squad: 1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Brad Parker, 4. Tolutau Koula, 5. Reuben Garrick, 6. Josh Schuster, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans (c), 8. Taniela Paseka, 9. Lachlan Croker, 10. Sean Keppie, 11. Haumole Olakau'atu, 12. Ben Trbojevic, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Karl Lawton, 15. Samuela Fainu, 16. Ethan Bullemor, 17. Ben Condon. Reserves: 18. Kaeo Weekes, 19. Morgan Harper, 20. Cooper Johns, 21. Morgan Boyle, 22. Gordon Chan Kum Tong.

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