Jack Wighton picks up where he left off as Canberra Raiders edge Canterbury Bulldogs

So much so, his new halves partner George Williams was relishing the chance to work with the Clive Churchill Medallist.

Wighton scored a try as the Canberra Raiders ran over the top of the Canterbury Bulldogs to win 12-10 in Port Macquarie on Saturday.

Both teams were rusty in the NRL trial, but there were enough glimpses to have the Green Machine fans excited.

Wighton looked threatening every time he ran the ball and he finished off a nice Raiders move when Joe Tapine offloaded to Josh Papalii, who put the five-eighth away.

"When I signed for Canberra in March I watched every game, just took note of how well [Wighton] played," Williams said.

"Not just him, all the other boys around him were fantastic too and that's why he was so successful.

"He's a great player. I'm really looking forward to the year with him.

"That's our first 50 minutes together, but we'll hopefully get better and better."

The Raiders do have one concern though, with prop Ryan Sutton put on report for a shoulder charge on Bulldogs bookend Joe Stimson in the 80^th minute.

Williams felt they'd probably discuss it given the good mates are rooming together.

"We'll probably have a good chat about that. Hopefully not too bad, hopefully not too bad," he said.

Wighton wasn't the only one to impress.

Josh Papalii was his usual hard-working self, while Josh Hodgson and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad looked sharp - the latter saving a try in the second half when Jayden Okunbor was away.

Williams showed glimpses of his running game, but also showed his kicking could be an asset.

He seems to have a variety of kicks he'll look to call on throughout the season.

The England international also showed he'll throw a few cut-out passes - the first was almost intercepted and the second was a bit high for Cotric, so it will be interesting to see when he finds his range.

"Obviously it was trial one, want to keep it simple really - a few cut-out passes I probably shouldn't have thrown, but a bit of nerves early on and I just wanted to do well," Williams said.

"As a group and as the game went on found it easier and easier. But it's trial one, we're not getting carried away and we've plenty to work on."

Importantly, Williams had no signs of the quad strain that hampered his pre-season.

He strained it a couple of weeks after arriving in Canberra and then did it again when he returned to training.

"It was nice for me to get 50 minutes under my belt and no issues," he said.

"That was in the back of my mind a little bit. Obviously a disrupted pre-season, but all good."

The Raiders' right edge was a bit loose defensively early on.

With John Bateman (shoulder) out until at least round seven, their right side was made up of Corey Horsburgh, Williams, Curtis Scott and Nick Cotric.

That's where the Bulldogs scored the opener, and then Dylan Napa crashed over through the middle from close range for a soft try to add to Jake Averillo's four-pointer.

Emre Guler and Dunamis Lui replaced starting props Sia Soliola and Papalii and look set to be on the Raiders' bench for round one against the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on March 13.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart swung the changes after 56 minutes and took off the side that will likely start that game.

It was Williams' brother-in-halves, Sam Williams who scored the match-winning try when he dummied his way through the Bulldogs line from close range.

Michael Oldfield replaced Scott in the second half, perhaps pointing to the back-up plan if Scott's stood down under the NRL's no-fault stand-down policy.

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 12 (Jack Wighton, Sam Williams try; Jarrod Croker, Sam Williams goals) bt CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 10 (Jake Averillo, Dylan Napa tries; Averillo goal) at Port Macquarie.