Mal pins Raiders' hopes on quartet

Canberra legend Mal Meninga believes the Raiders can win the premiership this season if they can keep their star quartet on the paddock.

The Raiders last year failed to live up to the expectation they put on themselves after a dynamic end to 2010, which saw them reach the second week of the finals on the back of nine wins from their final 10 games of the season.

But with Terry Campese back to full strength after playing just eight minutes last year, and Josh Dugan, David Shillington and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs raring to go, Meninga believes the Green Machine are a genuine threat to win the title.

''It's important for the club to get off to a good start, because if they can do that, they're a chance of winning the competition,'' said Meninga, who was caretaker coach for Canberra's first week of this pre-season.

''A few of the senior players, like Terry Campese, Josh Dugan, David Shillington and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs missed a lot of last season with injury.

''If they can keep those guys on the field on a regular basis, they will be successful.''

The Raiders are rated a $20 chance with ACTTAB to win the premiership, only ahead of the Roosters ($26), Sharks ($31), Titans ($31) and Panthers ($41).

Between the four of them last year, Campese (one), Dugan (13), Shillington (16) and Learoyd-Lahrs (12) played 42 of a potential 96 games between them.

Only once did they line up together, when Campese tore his adductor just eight minutes into his comeback from a knee reconstruction.

It's no secret Campese is the key to the Raiders' chances this year.

While Meninga has backed the five-eighth to lift his beloved Raiders back towards premiership contention, he said he expects to be coaching against him in just over three months' time.

Campese, who made his one appearance for NSW in 2009, was this year named by Blues coach Ricky Stuart in the Emerging Origin squad.

''I think he's probably in Ricky's plans,'' Meninga said.

''There are a lot of good halves around but I'm sure if Campo is going really well and the Raiders are going really well, it's going to make him hard to resist for NSW.''

Campese won't have to wait long for the chance to show his worth against the Queensland core of Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, when the Raiders host the Melbourne Storm in round one at Canberra Stadium on March 3.

While the NRL season is less than two weeks from kicking off, it's almost three months to the opening State of Origin match, and the Queensland coach believes NSW narrowed the margin between the two teams in an emotion-charged series last year.

It was no surprise to hear him back Cooper Cronk as Darren Lockyer's successor, but it appears Scott Prince's dreams of playing Origin again are over, ignored by Meninga when he listed the depth at his disposal in the halves.

''At this stage Cooper and Johnathan [Thurston] have got the inside running but we've got some fair depth in the halves with Daly Cherry-Evans and Chris Sandow,'' he said.

''Cooper deserves it. He deserves to be there - providing he's playing well and he's not injured.''