Raiders coach Ricky Stuart reaffirmed the club's desire to make Cotric a Raider for life and he felt a decision was imminent - although unlikely to be until after the Green Machine hosts the Melbourne Storm at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night.

The Canberra Times revealed they'd offered the 21-year-old a three-year deal, but in a bid to stave off interest from the Canterbury Bulldogs they've upped that offer in length by two years for a total value of $2.5 million.

"We've always been talking about five years. There's been lots of backwards and forwards," Raiders chief executive Don Furner said.

Cotric made his NRL debut for the Raiders in round one in 2017 and has been a mainstay on the Canberra edges since, scoring 36 tries in his 78 games.

"I don't think it's too far down the track we should now what Nick's thinking," Stuart said.

"We're hoping Nick stays. He's a local junior boy and there's a very, very attractive offer on the table for him.

"Of course we want him to stay. We want him to be a Raider for the rest of his life."

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Stuart also felt the Raiders weren't too far off bolstering their middle-forward stocks.

The Raiders are on the look-out for back-up following an injury crisis that has taken down Sia Soliola (face), Corey Horsburgh (foot) and Emre Guler (ankle).

But Stuart didn't want to be drawn on who they might be chasing, with clubs hesitant to release players during a season without any byes.

"We certainly are looking and talking to managers," Stuart said.

"We're pretty confident that we might be able to get one or two not too far away, but it's just a matter of making sure its the right player and we can get it done."

NRL ROUND NINE

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm at Canberra Stadium, 7.35pm.

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. Dunamis Lui, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Joe Tapine. Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Kai O'Donnell, 16. Ryan Sutton, 17. Jordan Rapana. Reserves: 18. Tom Starling, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Darby Medlyn, 21. Curtis Scott.

Storm squad: 1. Ryan Papenhuyzen, 2. Marion Seve, 3. Justin Olam, 4. Paul Momirovski, 5. Josh Addo-Carr, 6. Ryley Jacks, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Cameron Smith (c), 10. Christian Welch, 11. Felise Kaufusi, 12. Kenneath Bromwich, 13. Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14. Brandon Smith, 15. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, 16. Tom Eisenhuth, 17. Nelson Asofa-Solomona. Reserves: 18. Darryn Schonig, 19. Cameron Munster, 20. Brenko Lee, 21. Nicholas Hynes.