The 23-year-old said the club's emerging young talent and proximity to his family prompted him to seek an extension to his contract at the Raiders, locking him in at the NRL club for the next four seasons.

The Raiders still have a war chest of funds to sign marquee players, but so far their aggressive recruitment campaign has landed only Sisa Waqa from Melbourne, and Iosia Soliola and Josh Hodgson from the UK Super League.

Croker is on the cusp of representative football and is a likely selection for the Australian Kangaroos train-on squad to be announced next week.

While Croker hoped his re-signing might prompt external players to see his own faith in the club, he wasn't fazed

"If they want to come here, come here, at the same time if they don't want to be here, we don't want them here," he said. "I'm happy with the squad and roster we've got going into next year, it's bright signs.

"I wouldn't have jumped in and extended so early if I wasn't excited about the prospects of what's going to happen here ... we've got a team of really talented kids, I mentioned how good the coaching staff's been this year. I think the sky's the limit for us, but it's small steps and it's about rebuilding, which is what we're doing. That's the reason I'm here.

"We've got some class here and they're only young. Jack Wighton (21), Mitch Cornish (21), Edrick (21) and Brenko Lee (18), Jeremy Hawkins (21) - it's phenomenal the youth. Paul Vaughan (23) and Shannon Boyd (21), they're all under 23. With that, some good senior players and players coming in, I'm real excited about the place. That's a big part of me staying here."

Croker turns 24 next week and has already played 139 NRL games. He will captain the club for the third time on Saturday against Parramatta. He said he would be honoured to captain the club full-time.

"If the opportunity arises I'd definitely take it with both hands. I think there's a few other guys there for next year, I definitely think Shaun Fensom's a strong candidate. If it's there for me, I'll take it."

Having debuted in 2009, Croker feels he's in the best form of his career. But he feels he will only be hitting his peak when his new contract expires, at the end of 2018.

Croker sits third on the NRL point-scoring list this season (190 points), behind Sydney Roosters half James Maloney (207) and North Queensland's Johnathan Thurston (198).

The NRL's top three try scorers will also feature in Saturday's match between the Raiders and Parramatta, with Semi Radradra (18), Croker (17) and Jarryd Hayne (17) taking the field.

But Croker said he'd trade any personal accolades to win a third-straight game for the Raiders, rewarding fans and sending off Brett White (retired) and Anthony Milford (Brisbane Broncos) as winners.

"The only reason I'm up there [in point-scoring] is because of my tries and a lot of my tries have been on the back of Anthony Milford ... He's been his cheeky self [this week], bouncing around training, leading the charge.

"He wants as much as anyone else to leave here a winner. That's a big thing him for him and Whitey ... This is Whitey's last hoorah.

"That's the main thing for me, to send Whitey out a winner."