Raiders back-rower Elliott Whitehead is preparing for a ferocious forward battle in the NRL grand final against the Sydney Roosters at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday.

Waerea-Hargreaves' return from a one-game suspension will be a huge boost to the defending premiers as they look to become the first team to win back-to-back titles in a unified competition in 26 years.

But one of the premier front-rowers in the NRL could meet his match in Raiders star Josh Papalii, who will be looked to for the benchmark for Canberra's pack.

"It's going to be a tough game, we know that," Whitehead said.

"We go in there with plenty of confidence and a great game plan. Hopefully we can stick to that and find the win. It's going to be a tough battle in the middle.

"We need to be a little bit better than we were against the Rabbitohs. It's just a matter of cleaning up a few small things.

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"We probably gave them a little bit too much possession down in our half and they got a few repeat sets, so we did a little bit more defending than we probably wanted to.

"We'll have a look at that and hopefully we can fix that up going into this week."

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart expects destructive centre Joey Leilua will be fit for the grand final as he battles to overcome a calf problem.

His absence would leave the Raiders with no NRL grand final experience heading into the decider - something the game has not seen since the inexperienced Newcastle Knights stunned Manly Warringah in 1997.

However the Green Machine is not completely bereft of big game experience with Sia Soliola and John Bateman both playing in Super League grand finals.

Canberra's record is in stark contrast with that of the Roosters - 12 of the 17 men who knocked Melbourne out in their preliminary final on Saturday were a part of their premiership run last year.

Waerea-Hargreaves' return will see that number swell to 13 while Jake Friend could be the 14^th with his potential return from a calf injury set to dominate headlines this week.

Roosters halfback Cooper Cronk is set to play his ninth grand final in 16 years to equal club great Ron Coote for the third most in history - a far cry from Whitehead's resume.

"It's taken me what, 11 or 12 years to make it to a grand final," Whitehead said.

"To do it with these boys especially, we've got a great bond and hopefully we can go one step further and win it.

"It showed here [against South Sydney], what great camaraderie we've got here and how hard we want to work for each other.

"That's the most important thing to me, this team, I want to do this for them."

NRL GRAND FINAL

October 6: Canberra Raiders v Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium, 7.30pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.