Canberra Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker is more than just a star of the NRL.

He's also an inspiration to Canberra kids.

Croker makes a habit of giving away his headgear after games, with young Luca Breen the lucky lad after the Raiders' win over Penrith in Wagga Wagga on Saturday.

Luca was stoked. He's barely taken it off since. Fell asleep in it on the drive home, wore it while practicing his kicking Croker style, to bed and even to daycare.

The only problem was, Luca's brother Archie missed out. Poor fella.

Not to worry, Croker had a simple solution - pop around to the Breen's house before school to drop another headgear off on Wednesday.

Oh, and a kicking tee after he noticed Luca was using a stubby holder to practice with.

On top of making a Raiders fan for life, Croker was also helping produce the next crop of potential NRL stars.

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

"It's been a crazy week since the weekend," Luca and Archie's father David said.

"Being a lifelong Raiders fan myself I was probably more nervous than the kids.

"The boys were super stoked with it. Archie took it to school yesterday and had the best show and tell.

"His teacher's a big, keen Raiders fan as well. They got up this morning and they've still got the headgear on.

"I don't know how long they're going to keep wearing it. I had to clean yoghurt off it the other day."

The Breen family went to Wagga Wagga for the weekend and were on the field after the game when Luca called out to Croker.

He came over and took them into the Raiders sheds before making Luca's day.

David was blown away by what Croker had done.

There's only one problem. Croker might have a few more deliveries to make.

On top of a jealous teacher, all of David's mates are "super jealous" as well.

The Raiders captain might need to buy himself a sleigh.

"He's so down to earth. He's such a good role model and his generosity ... he's so good to take the time out," David said.

"He's got really good rapport with the kids too. It was really good to have a chat with him and the kids loved him.

"They were a bit shy, a bit quiet, but it's good that he's able to do that."

It's part of a community spirit that Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has instilled in the team.

The Raiders sit third on the ladder and Stuart said they were on track to make the finals.

They'll see exactly where they're at against the ladder-leading Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.

But they know they'll be bolstered by players returning from injury later in the season - Joe Tapine (ankle), John Bateman (eye socket) and Joey Leilua (neck) could all return in the second half of the campaign.

"I don't see us as a surprise packet," he said on Thursday.

"I know what I've got here and if we don't get too much bad luck we'll be there at the end of the year fighting in a semi-final.

"It's just really unfortunate we've got three of our very good players sitting on the bench at the moment.

"It knocks us around, but that's part and parcel of footy. I'm hoping we have our bad luck now so on the back end of the season we don't cop it.

"But we're winning games of footy at the moment which are really important two points when you've got players sitting on the bench which are quality."

NRL ROUND NINE

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium, 2pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Michael Oldfield, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson (c), 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Bailey Simonsson, 16. Sia Soliola, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Aidan Sezer, 19. Emre Guler, 20. Royce Hunt, 21. Jack Murchie.

Roosters squad: 1. James Tedesco, 2. Daniel Tupou, 3. Latrell Mitchell, 4. Joseph Manu, 5. Matt Ikuvalu, 6. Luke Keary, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9. Victor Radley, 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho, 11. Boyd Cordner (c), 12. Angus Crichton, 13. Isaac Liu. Interchange: 14. Nat Butcher, 15. Zane Tetevano, 16. Sitili Tupouniua, 17. Mitchell Aubusson. Reserves: 18. Lindsay Collins, 19. Josh Curran, 20. Lachlan Lam, 21. Sam Verrills.