Centre Nick Cotric, five-eighth Jack Wighton and front-rower Josh Papalii will have little time to ice their bumps and bruises following their meeting at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.

Because the Green Machine will be back in action two nights later against the unpredictable Wests Tigers at Western Sydney Stadium.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has options at his disposal should any of the three fail to back up - Aidan Sezer and Sam Williams can both line up in the halves once more.

A wave of young forwards have been given a taste of the top grade and are yearning for more should Papalii need a night off.

Now rookie Sebastian Kris has declared himself ready to fill the void should Cotric be unable to front up after a gruelling state versus state showdown.

Cotric missed an NRL game for the first time since he made his debut in the opening round of 2017 due to his representative commitments last week, ending his run of 59 games on the trot.

Kris is preparing as if Cotric will miss another.

"That's best for myself and the team, to prepare as if I will be playing. Then if anything happens I will be ready, and if not, then I don't need to," Kris said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what I can produce with the team in the coming future."

Ideally it will be a few more tries - and Kris wouldn't mind capping off his celebration before being mobbed by his teammates next time.

The Raiders centre crossed for his first NRL try last weekend and rose to his feet to pay tribute to his heritage before being drowned in a sea of lime green jerseys.

"I was hoping to do a little Torres Strait Islander dance there but it got spoiled," Kris laughed.

"I didn't really tell anyone about it so it's understandable they jumped on me."

While the reaction of his teammates is inevitable, Kris laughs he just might need to ask for them to wait five or 10 seconds next time.

Kris is just one Raiders rookie desperate to make an impact with every chance he gets as hooker Tom Starling prepares for his third NRL game.

Starling is relishing the chance to play first grade in Canberra as the Raiders come to grips with the absence of superstar hooker Josh Hodgson.

Starling played 20 minutes in his first taste of Raiders action as he deputised for Tongan international Siliva Havili in his return to the No. 9 jersey.

Now the former Newcastle Knight is hoping to build on those minutes as he soaks up everything he can from Hodgson and Raiders assistant Michael Ennis - a two-time NRL hooker of the year in his own right.

"I rate him up there with the top three hookers to ever play, so I'm just like a sponge drawing everything off him," Starling said.

"We've got Mick Ennis down here too, so I'm just licking my lips at the opportunity down here. I'll just keep building on my game and drawing parts from [Hodgson] and Mick.

"When I had to leave Newcastle [at the end of last season] I wasn't sure where I would end up. I ended up going to Tweed Heads in the Queensland Cup.

"Then Pete Mulholland rang me over Christmas... I took that opportunity and it has paid off so far.

"Hopefully [more minutes come my way]. It was good to get 20 minutes under the belt on the weekend so I'll just build on that."