But their fly-in, fly-out trip to the Gold Coast was all plain sailing and a flashback to Canberra Raiders prop Sia Soliola's English Super League days.

The Raiders cruised to a 20-6 victory over the wandering New Zealand Warriors - just the second time they've won the opening two games of the season since 2005.

While the Warriors don't know when they might return to Auckland - due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - they finally know where their first try of the season was coming from.

It came through Kodi Nikorima, who was awarded a penalty try after he was tackled without the ball by Raiders halfback George Williams - 155 minutes into the new campaign.

The Raiders will sweat on the match review committee, with Soliola put on report for a high shot on Adam Blair.

"A little bit [of a concern]. I had to pay a fine last year from the semi-final - there was a tackle on Sam Burgess," Soliola said.

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"I'm still trying to figure out how everything is calculated because there is a new structure.

"Fingers crossed it's not too bad. It was obviously accidental. I actually didn't know, I thought it was someone else getting penalised. I didn't think it was me."

Blair went off for a head injury assessment, but was cleared to return - unlike fellow middle Lachlan Burr.

Soliola was part of a dominant Raiders forward pack and scored a second-half try chasing a Josh Hodgson grubber.

He ran for 134 metres, Siliva Havili (88m) was also lively off the bench and Josh Papalii (140m) was his usual self.

The Raiders flew out of Fairbairn on their chartered flight at 9.30am and were back in Canberra less than 12 hours later - almost allowing Soliola to put the kids to bed.

"I was quite excited because I did this in England when I was playing for St Helens," Soliola said.

"It's something that we've had to deal with. If that's what it takes for the game to move forward then that's what we'll do.

"The plane was absolutely awesome ... everything was very, very smooth. There was no hustle and bustle from our end."

The Raiders were scrappy, especially in the first half when they struggled to complete their sets - doing so just 59 per cent of the time in the first half - allowing the Warriors to dominate possession (58 per cent).

Raiders centre Curtis Scott made a try-saving tackle on his opposite number Adam Keighran, while lock Corey Horsburgh held up Eliesa Katoa.

But it was the Raiders who scored first, with some Croker brilliance breaking the deadlock.

He stepped and then found Elliott Whitehead back on the inside for the England international to score.

Raiders winger Nick Cotric looked dangerous every time he got the ball.

He ran for 150m, made seven tackle busts and a big linebreak where the Raiders probably should've scored, but the 21-year-old was unable to take advantage of the two players he had in support.

Cotric could've had two second-half tries, but the final passes from Williams and Scott were ruled forward.

Canberra left wing Bailey Simonsson finished off a big break from ex-Warrior Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Williams put a great kick in behind for Scott to score his first try in lime green.

AT A GLANCE

CANBERRA RAIDERS 20 (Elliott Whitehead, Sia Soliola, Bailey Simonsson, Curtis Scott tries; Jarrod Croker 2 goals) bt NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS 6 (Kodi Nikorima penalty try; Chanel Harris-Tavita goal) at the Gold Coast. Referees: Chris Sutton, Dave Munro.