The 21-year-old has barely put a foot wrong during his rookie season in the NRL and was solid in Canberra's heartbreaking 22-18 loss to the Sydney Roosters at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.

But he faces a huge battle to retain his place in Canberra's top 17 en route to the finals.

Star centre Joey Leilua is on the cusp of a return from a career-threatening neck injury and Simonsson is the man most likely to make way.

But that isn't necessarily Raiders coach Ricky Stuart's biggest headache. What he has to consider before a clash with the ladder leading Melbourne Storm is which position Leilua fits into.

Does he return to right centre to partner Jordan Rapana, thus bumping Nick Cotric back onto the left wing? Or does Leilua find a new home outside Jarrod Croker?

"It's a good problem to have, so we'll look at that during the week," Stuart said.

His return could not have come at a better time.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson fears the one-on-one strip rule is heaping unnecessary pressure on NRL whistleblowers.

Canberra hooker Josh Hodgson has become the game's most lethal pick-pocket exponent having pulled off more than double the amount of other players.

The Raiders stripped the ball from the Roosters four times on Sunday to leave Robinson wondering whether the revamped rule has done anything for the game.

"What is it? I mean, honestly, has that added to the spectacle of our game?," Robinson said.

"Honestly, has that added value to our game? It's got nothing to do with Canberra, the rule has come in and they have exploited it really well, so congratulate them for that.

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"But honestly, who pressure-tested this and said 'refs, can you control the ruck plus also adjudicate on split-second guys coming in and out?' Is this adding value to our game?"

Stuart believes there are a number of rules putting too much pressure on referees - and "that's one of them, because a lot of the time they have to guess".

"I think they got a lot of them right tonight. Whether the rule stays or goes, there's so many more rules in the game we are creating and putting more pressure on the blokes in the middle," Stuart said.

"I feel sorry for them. We need to make it a little bit easier for them, not make it harder."

Snow sat atop the mountains surrounding the capital and a cool breeze made the men from Sydney's east feel as far from Bondi as possible.

But the nine-degree day wasn't enough to scare off scores of rugby league fans with 19,530 turning out for the top four showdown.

It stands as Canberra's biggest home crowd since they hosted the Penrith Panthers in a semi-final three years ago.

Not since August of 2010 have so many people flooded through the turnstiles at Canberra Stadium for a Raiders regular season game.