Papalii has the old man, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews desperate to fill up a Suncorp Stadium bay during Canberra's clash with the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.

Rapana is the middle child of 10, including five adopted brothers and sisters - everyone lives on the Gold Coast but him.

It quickly became clear the usual allocation of six tickets per player just wasn't going to cut it - especially on Mother's Day.

"I've got 26 tickets at the moment, and I think I might need a few more," Papalii laughed.

"I requested 20 and then got a few spares the boys are not using. I quickly scooped those up.

"It's always good getting back and playing in front of my parents, which is something I used to do as a little kid all the time. It's a rare opportunity to play in front of my kids and parents at the same time."

Rapana's story is oh so similar. He jumps at every chance he gets to see his tight-knit family.

"I've got about 20 tickets. I got onto some of the English boys that aren't using theirs and gave them to the fams," Rapana said.

"It'll be good to see mum. Mum and dad come down a fair bit. It's always good to come up here and see all my other family as well."

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.

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, 21. Sam Verrills.