Canberra Raiders captain Jarrod Croker is expecting Newcastle Knights centre Dane Gagai to keep him on his toes after making his State of Origin debut.
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While there are still nine games remaining before the finals, Friday night's encounter at Canberra Stadium is a must-win encounter for both sides if they are to contend for the post-season.
The 11th-placed Raiders (6-9) are four points out of the top eight while the Knights (5-10) are two points further back.
The Knights have named Gagai and NSW second-rower Beau Scott to back up from State of Origin, while the Raiders have done the same with Queensland forward Josh Papalii and Maroons' 18th man Edrick Lee.
Croker knows the Raiders' edge defence will have to be on its game to rein in the dangerous Gagai.
"He's quite a handful, he's extremely quick, we've had a few good battles over the last few years and he's making his Origin debut tonight," Croker said.
"He's going to be on cloud nine on Friday night so it's going to be very tough."
Croker said the Raiders have remained confident despite losing five of their past six games to drop out of the top eight.
Their most recent win came against the Knights, easily taking the spoils 44-22 just over a month ago at Hunter Stadium.
The Knights appear to be a much stronger side this time around with the return of Jarrod Mullen, Tyrone Roberts, Kade Snowden, Jeremy Smith and David Fa'alogo.
Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson said the changes in the Knights team meant it would be tough to read too much into their previous encounter.
"It's a pretty short turnaround in that we only played them three or four weeks ago, but I'm sure they'll be a totally different team," Hodgson said. "They've had a couple losses, they'll be pretty desperate and they've got a few people back.
"It'll be a different Newcastle side that will come here."
The Knights won't have any fears playing on a ground where the Raiders have struggled this year.
The Raiders have won just one of their eight games at Canberra Stadium this year, when they hammered the Gold Coast Titans 56-16 in round nine.
"The fans have been great for us this year and we owe them a few more victories towards the end of the year," Croker said.
The Raiders remain in the hunt for the finals given their favourable draw in the second half of the season.
A trip to Townsville to face the North Queensland Cowboys is their only match with a top-eight team.
The log-jam in the bottom half of the top eight means the Raiders are only four points behind the fourth-placed Dragons.
"With the league being as tight as it is, every game is as important as the next," Hodgson said. "There's nine games left so there's still a lot of points to grab.
"We're not going to pile too much pressure on ourselves and we're going to concentrate on a few areas that we need."
