Tapine has been struggling with a knee injury all week and was unable to complete the captains' run on Friday.

Stuart will finalise his side on Saturday, with Hudson Young and Corey Horsburgh both options to start on the edge against the high-flying Eels at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday.

Young returned from an eight-week suspension for eye-gouging in the Raiders' 14-6 loss to Manly last weekend, while Horsburgh spent the pre-season training in the second row.

The fiery redhead could switch from the middle to an edge, with Ryan Sutton an option to shift to lock.

Stuart could bring either outside back Bailey Simonsson or prop Dunamis Lui onto the bench.

"It's been niggling [Tapine] all week, but I'd thought he'd get through today and then he didn't," Stuart said.

"He didn't do too much training on Wednesday and it was bothering him today and I don't want to risk it.

"It gives me the opportunity to play Hudson there. I've got some other players I can play there, whether I start him or not I'll make that decision [Saturday]."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Tapine's absence disrupts a relatively new Raiders right edge, which has seen the addition of halfback George Williams, centre Curtis Scott and ex-left winger Nick Cotric - plus the loss of second-rower John Bateman (shoulder) - this season.

It's a right edge that can expect to be targeted by Eels backs Michael Jennings and Maika Sivo after Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic found a few holes there last weekend.

Seven of the 12 tries the Raiders have conceded this season have come down that side, while the settled left has let in just three.

Similarly the right has been less potent in attack, with six of the 18 scored coming down that side - compared with nine on the left.

But Stuart was confident the right could handle the traffic Jennings and Sivo send their way.

"Last week there were a couple of glitches there, but we know what they were," he said.

"It wasn't just all about Curtis and Nick, [but also] some of our systems there that we need to look at.

"It's work we're doing on various parts of our game, not just the right edge."

It's nothing Stuart's overly concerned about at this stage, given the Green Machine still boasts the third-best defence in the NRL.

Similarly, he's not overly concerned about their misfiring attack, that's partly down to Williams still settling into the Canberra spine alongside five-eighth Jack Wighton, hooker Josh Hodgson and fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

They're up against an Eels attack that's flying off the back of 100 offloads this season - 35 more than their nearest rivals going into round seven.

Stuart has urged his players to relax in order to rediscover their mojo.

"It will be a good test. We're a little off with our game at the moment. We have to relax a little bit, enjoy our football again," he said.

"We're trying too hard and it's quite evident in the style of our game. Just relax and enjoy our football is something we have to take on board.

"It's a big threat [offloads] and it's very hard to defend. We had 40 per cent of the footy last week and we were pulled up centimetres from the tryline five times.

"That shows you we're not far away. I don't think we're attacking very intelligently at the moment. We'll find our mojo soon there.

"But if we're going to give them 60 per cent of the football Parramatta, with the way they attack and the way they offload, they'll beat us."

NRL ROUND SEVEN

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium, 7.35pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Jordan Rapana, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson (c), 10. Sia Soliola, 11. Joe Tapine, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Corey Horsburgh. Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Ryan Sutton, 17. Hudson Young. Reserves: 18. Bailey Simonsson, 19. Dunamis Lui, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Tom Starling.

Eels squad: 1. Clinton Gutherson, 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Michael Jennings, 4. Waqa Blake, 5. Blake Ferguson, 6. Dylan Brown, 7. Mitchell Moses, 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 9. Reed Mahoney, 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Shaun Lane, 12. Ryan Matterson, 13. Nathan Brown. Interchange: 14. Ray Stone, 15. Marata Niukore, 16. Oregon Kaufusi, 17. Brad Takairangi. Reserves: 18. David Gower, 19. Daniel Alvaro, 20. George Jennings, 21. Jai Field.