The Canberra Raiders halfback will lead the Green Machine into battle against the South Sydney Rabbitohs after a man-of-the-match performance in his finals debut last weekend.

It's a position few would have thought he would be in when he was axed after the Raiders' loss to the Rabbitohs in May, Taylor using his 38-kilogram weight advantage to demolish some flimsy defence.

But after biding his time in reserve grade for a month, Williams has returned in sparkling form and insists he's ready for the challenge against the Rabbitohs.

The pint-sized playmaker showed no signs of stage fright in his first finals appearance while his counterpart - Rabbitohs rookie of the year No.7 Adam Reynolds - struggled with the increased intensity.

There's little doubt 122kg powerhouse Taylor will again target Williams's 84kg frame.

But Williams has returned to the NRL with a renewed hunger and aggression which has seen him become one of the Raiders' best performers for the past two months.

Far from being daunted by the semi-final task, Williams is determined to rise to the occasion in the biggest match of his 32-game career. His superb kicking game and dangerous attacking runs helped him rise to the occasion in the elimination final victory over the Cronulla Sharks.

However, the 21-year-old is refusing to be satisfied with one finals appearance. ''You can't base your career on one game or anything like that so I've got to make sure [this week] is no different and I show up to play well again,'' Williams said.

''The atmosphere [at Canberra Stadium] was unbelievable and will stay with me for a long time.

''But we've got to move on, we're away from home now and the big thing is consistency and I think we've had that the last few weeks.''

The match will give Williams a chance to renew his battle with Rabbitohs halfback Reynolds. The duo locked horns in the under-20s competition in their junior days. Reynolds has been one of the star performers this year and helped lift the Rabbitohs to third on the ladder at the end of the regular season.

However, he failed to fire against a clinical Melbourne Storm last weekend and Williams expected him to bounce back.

Williams will have more than Taylor and Reynolds to worry about with his kicking game crucial to stopping superstar Greg Inglis.

Inglis scored two tries and tore the Raiders apart when the teams played in round 12. One way to take Inglis out of the game and limit his explosiveness would be to kick the ball over the dead ball line so he doesn't get a chance to run at a broken defensive line.

Williams conceded it could be an option, but insisted it was not a priority. ''You don't want to find Greg Inglis on the full, that's for sure,'' Williams said.

''If you can find space, that's the priority and against the Bulldogs [and fullback Ben Barba] we had the same plan - find space and limit the time [the fullbacks get to wind up].

''The Rabbitohs have a lot of dangerous weapons so we have to combat that the best we can.''

The young Raiders proved they could deal with increased pressure when they didn't panic after falling behind against the Sharks.

They have one of the youngest back lines in the competition with five-eighth Josh McCrone the veteran at just 25 years old.

McCrone was part of the Raiders' 2010 team which made it to the semi-finals before being bundled out by the Wests Tigers. He warned his teammates to expect a scrappy game against the Rabbitohs.

''Semi-final football is like that and whoever can stick in there the longest will get the result,'' McCrone said.

''It's the same as each week [pressure wise], we've just got to keep playing the same footy we have for the past month … if we can kick them into the corners [like we did against the Sharks], hopefully we can go all right.''