The Raiders have opened contract extension talks with Rapana's management ahead of his return to the field against the Wests Tigers at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.

Rapana's off-contract at the end of the season, but discussions have begun to keep the Kiwi flyer in the capital into 2020 and beyond.

The 29-year-old returns to Canberra's right wing to face Wests after missing the past three games due to a knee injury.

Rapana's had an injury interrupted 2019 after he returned from a shoulder reconstruction in round two.

He also missed one week due to a rib injury he suffered against the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale.

With his usual right-edge partner-in-crime Joey Leilua (neck) likely to be out for the season, Rapana forms a new wing-centre partnership with Nick Cotric - provided the young gun gets through his State of Origin debut for NSW unscathed.

Rapana's return was one of five changes to the Raiders' 17 this week.

But Raiders prop Sia Soliola said that wouldn't be an excuse because everyone knows what's expected of them.

"The only difference is the faces really. But the standards and the qualities that we set ... that never changes," he said.

"You've still got to rock up with the same attitude and we have our policies and processes that we have within our group and they're the demands that we set."

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It will be the Raiders' first game in the redeveloped Parramatta Stadium and they're up against a Tigers team that won't have happy memories of it.

The Tigers were thumped 51-6 by Parramatta in the stadium opener six weeks ago.

They've also struggled against the Green Machine in recent years, winning just one of their past five encounters - with the average score 45-11 in the Raiders' favour.

But Parramatta Stadium has had rave reviews and Raiders halfback Sam Williams was looking forward to seeing it first hand.

He also hoped it could be the blueprint for a new stadium in Civic.

"It will be exciting to play there. It looks like a world-class facility," Williams said.

"All the teams that have played there so far have really enjoyed it.

"It's always exciting playing a new venue, but once you get out there you're just focused on the footy.

"It'd be great [to get a new stadium in Canberra], but we've got some of the toughest fans in the competition.

"If we get one in Civic it would be brilliant, but we'll see how that goes."

The fifth-placed Raiders are looking to cement their spot in the top eight and fend off the Tigers, who are just two points behind them, in the process.

Canberra have turned things around this season, after finishing 10^th the past two years.

But Soliola said they wanted to be higher on the NRL ladder.

"I'm OK with where we're at, definitely not comfortable," he said.

"I'd like to be in the top two, but the level of growth we still have within the squad - there's a lot there.

"Considering we've had a few changes within the squad I'm definitely happy [compared] with where I thought we were going to be at the start of the year.

"It's worked a treat this year and everyone's fitted in quite well."

NRL ROUND 13

Friday: Wests Tigers v Canberra Raiders at Western Sydney Stadium, 7.55pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Jarrod Croker (C), 4. Nick Cotric, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Siliva Havili, 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. John Bateman, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Joe Tapine. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Sia Soliola, 17. Ryan Sutton. Reserves: 18. Aidan Sezer, 19. Royce Hunt, 20. Michael Oldfield, 21. Sebastian Kris, 22. JJ Collins.

Tigers squad: 1. Moses Mbye, 2. Robert Jennings, 3. Paul Momirovski, 4. Esan Marsters, 5. Corey Thompson, 6. Benji Marshall, 7. Luke Brooks, 8. Ben Matulino, 9. Robbie Farah, 10. Alex Twal, 11. Ryan Matterson, 12. Chris McQueen, 13. Matt Eisenhuth. Interchange: 14. Jacob Liddle, 15. Thomas Mikaele, 16. Josh Aloiai, 17. Michael Chee-Kam. Reserves: 18. David Nofoaluma, 19. Elijah Taylor, 20. Chris Lawrence, 21. Mahe Fonua.