While Curtis Scott's clearance to play round one means he won't start in the centres, injuries and suspensions have opened the door for a spot on the bench in the Green Machine's season opener against the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on Friday.

Oldfield has been a mainstay as the Raiders' No.18 since his arrival from Penrith in 2017.

He's played just 18 NRL games in his three seasons, but week-in, week-out he's had to prepare as if he's playing.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg decided against standing down Scott, who is facing seven charges including two counts of allegedly assaulting a police officer.

Oldfield was the favourite to come in if Scott was banned, but the latter looks set to form a new Raiders right edge along with Nick Cotric, George Williams and Corey Horsburgh.

But the absence of John Bateman (shoulder), Luke Bateman (knee), Ryan Sutton (suspended) and Hudson Young (suspended) has opened a spot in the 17.

Siliva Havili, Emre Guler and Dunamis Lui look likely to fill three of the bench spots, leaving one up for grabs.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart showed last season he was willing to carry an outside back on the bench.

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"It's not uncommon having a back on the bench ... we started to do it a bit with Bailey [Simonsson] last year," Oldfield said.

"And every time 'Bails' was on the bench he had to come on so it was a master stroke in that sense.

"But in terms of putting an outside back on the bench it's not ideal provided you can get four middles that can cover a lot of positions.

"I probably wouldn't put myself in the front row, but I'd like to think I'd be able to hold my own in some other positions which otherwise you'd never see me there.

"I'd take a bench spot over nothing. If it gets me out of the 18 jersey I'm a happy man."

Oldfield's off-contract at the end of the season.

While he's gotten used to be being an understudy, he said it still "sucks" - but he'll continue to prepare as he always has.

He's played just 48 NRL games across eight seasons, having also played 42 Super League games in two seasons with Catalans.

The 29-year-old said he hadn't even considered a return to the English Super League when he re-signed with the Raiders in 2018.

But he will look at his options this time.

The fact he's got family in Sydney would always be a factor in where he signed.

"Every time when your contract starts to come to expiration you do weigh up those things," Oldfield said.

"It's sometimes nice to be the big fish in the little pool.

"But when it comes to that time of contracts it's just a matter of weighing all your options.

"My last time I took up this deal with Canberra I didn't even look elsewhere. I was happy.

"The club wanted to keep me and I was in a good place here. I'll probably face some questions this year.

"I'm definitely going to open myself up to see what's out there and I'm not going to rule out going back overseas.

"When you weigh up everything my home's Australia and near the family so we'll just see what happens."

NRL ROUND ONE

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium, 6pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.