They could've almost got to London in the time it took to get to Darwin, where they'll play the Parramatta Eels at Marrara Oval on Saturday night.

The Raiders got to Canberra Airport at 7am on Thursday and were meant to fly out 45 minutes later, but fog grounded them and threw their day into chaos.

Two-and-a-half hours later they were finally sent home and told to return for a 3.30pm flight - to Melbourne.

A three-hour stopover there meant they finally got to Darwin at midnight.

It forced the Green Machine to push Friday's captain's run from lunchtime to late afternoon - and shorten it.

A similar thing happened to them when they flew to Brisbane for Magic Round in May - also via Melbourne after mechanical trouble disrupted their schedule.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart wasn't in the mood to talk about the situation, but the day's travel was less than ideal as they prepare to face a danger game against the Eels.

But Stuart was happy with the captain's run and how the players trained, with the Raiders expected to run out as named.

He was especially happy with how rested and raring to go his State of Origin duo Jack Wighton and Josh Papalii were when he met up with them in Darwin.

Thankfully they were spared the travel drama, having flown directly from Perth to Darwin earlier in the week after playing in Origin II.

It was Wighton's run-on Origin debut and Stuart has been impressed with the attitude his five-eighth has returned with.

"Jack's been great because, like Josh, he wants to play with his mates," Stuart said.

"I've seen it have the reverse effect where players come back and they get caught up in the hype of Origin and they lose their way a little bit in terms of club football.

"But these two boys are handling it really well."

He was also expecting young prop Corey Horsburgh to bring plenty of energy in his return from an elbow injury.

Horsburgh has impressed with his aggression in his maiden NRL season, slotting straight into the Raiders' pack.

"Corey having a bit of time off with an injury won't hurt him," Stuart said.

"He'll need his energy. It will be a high energy game [Saturday] night, it's a really fast field. It'll be warm and it's going to need a lot of high energy."

Meanwhile, the Raiders added forward Reuben Porter to their squad as 30th man to finalise their roster.

He'd previously been a development player and has been impressing for the Raiders' feeder club Mounties in the NSW Cup.

Porter played for the Cook Islands in the 66-6 win over South Africa on the weekend, but picked up an injury.

Raiders recruitment boss Peter Mulholland said it was a reward for Porter's efforts.

"We've just moved a player up from our development squad in Reuben Porter," Mulholland said.

"[He's a] middle-edge and he's done well in reserve grade and deserves his opportunity. It's a reward for his effort, which is good."

NRL ROUND 15

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Parramatta Eels at Darwin, 7.35pm.

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

Eels squad: 1. Clint Gutherson (c), 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Brad Takairangi, 4. Josh Hoffman, 5. Blake Ferguson, 6. Dylan Brown, 7. Mitch Moses, 8. Kane Evans, 9. Reed Mahoney, 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Shaun Lane, 12. Manu Ma'u, 13. Nathan Brown. Interchange: 14. Jaeman Salmon, 15. Peni Terepo, 16. David Gower, 17. Marata Niukore. Reserves: 18. Daniel Alvaro, 19. Tepai Moeroa, 20. George Jennings, 21. Will Smith.