Because when you can hear "literally every word" echoing from the stands when you're playing at a near-empty 25,000-seat stadium, imagine the sound of Tayoun's drum during the game.

Tayoun's boss told him to take the day off so he could travel down from Sydney to watch the Raiders face St George Illawarra on Friday in their first match at Canberra Stadium in 112 days.

Canberra's highly-anticipated homecoming will play out in front of 1500 ticketed spectators and 230 corporates who will be limited to two people in an open box, and six in an indoor suite - provided two people sit outside in front of the suite with four inside.

About 270 "participants" - including players, coaching staff, security, catering staff and event staff will see the capacity nudge the 2000 mark as the NRL rebuilds after a coronavirus-induced shutdown.

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

The crowd number could climb slightly for Canberra's clash with the Melbourne Storm in round nine but Raiders officials are happy to crawl before they walk to rebuild crowds.

Because 1500 is a step in the right direction, and one can rest assured those few fans who have waited months for another Viking clap will light more of a fire under Croker than the cardboard cut-outs to which players have grown accustomed.

"It'll be good. Even last week, I did see 500 on the screen at [Western Sydney], that was the number they put up for the amount of people there," Croker said.

"Even just to be booed by 500 people was good again. Big Red [Corey Horsburgh] made sure that happened too. I'm looking forward to a bit of noise there [on Friday] night.

"When there is only a small amount of people there, it's pretty clear. The game against the Tigers a couple of weeks back at Campbelltown, they had a couple of members or sponsors up in the boxes and you could hear literally every word they were saying. It's good to have a bit of noise."

Social distancing requirements mean fans will only be allowed to enter via the eastern side of Canberra Stadium and they will be made to sit three seats apart. The only people allowed to sit next to each other are children under 12 with a parent or guardian.

Bags are not allowed inside the venue and the western side will be kept as a "clean zone" for players and officials.

Raiders fans Harrison Webster and Rachael Wayde were among those scrambling to get their hands on one of the 1500 tickets on offer when they went on sale on at 2pm on Monday afternoon.

So too was Sydney-based supporter Tayoun - his boss made sure of that.

"Straight away. At 1.50pm I was at work and the boss says 'Simon, hurry up, go and get your ticket,'" Tayoun said.

"He's a good man. He gave me the day off to go to Canberra. The club rang me to make sure I had a ticket. I can't wait to go and make noise now, the noise will echo everywhere because there are not many people."

NRL ROUND EIGHT

Friday: Canberra Raiders v St George Illawarra Dragons at Canberra Stadium, 6pm.

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

Dragons squad: 1. Matthew Dufty, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Euan Aitken, 4. Zac Lomax, 5. Mikaele Ravalawa, 6. Corey Norman, 7. Adam Clune, 8. Blake Lawrie, 9. Cameron McInnes, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Tyrell Fuimaono, 13. Trent Merrin. Interchange: 14. Ben Hunt, 15. Josh Kerr, 16. Korbin Sims, 17. Jackson Ford. Reserves: 18. Eddie Blacker, 19. Tristan Sailor, 20. Billy Brittain, 21. Tim Lafai.