The Raiders will concede size but count on experience to stop them being steamrolled by a big Panthers pack in the opening round of the NRL at Penrith on Saturday night.
Coach David Furner has selected a Raiders forwards pack boasting 723 games of NRL experience.
Internationals David Shillington and Bronson Harrison will lead the way for Canberra while new recruit Danny Galea, veteran Scott Logan, rampaging lock Josh Miller and captain Alan Tongue at hooker make up a pack oozing experience.
The Raiders forwards have been assigned the job of dominating a Penrith engine room boasting a collection of representative superstars including Petero Civoniceva, Trent Waterhouse and Frank Pritchard. All three players are expected to feature heavily in Penrith's NRL campaign this season.
Keen to build on last year's representative performances, Shillington said he was looking forward to an early test against the burly Panthers.
''They're a really big side, they've got a lot of weight and size in their pack they're pretty tough to stop,'' Shillington said.
''They have got offloads in them too so you've got to wrap up the ball so they don't get that second-phase play going that they like.
''That'll make or break the game for us. Everyone talks about the Raiders pack being pretty big and intimidating but I think the Panthers are right up there too with Civinoceva, Pritchard, Waterhouse."
For more on this story, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.
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