The Canberra Raiders recruit will be part of the 17 to face the Wests Tigers at Canberra Stadium on Sunday when coach Ricky Stuart names his team on Tuesday.

James last played NRL for the Gold Coast Titans against Newcastle in round six in 2019.

Two knee reconstructions and a shift from the Glitter Strip to Canberra later and James will run out in lime green.

"He's been out of the game a long time ... but it's been a wonderful effort to get through this pre-season and now get the opportunity to line up for his new club and his new teammates," Stuart said.

"He did [impress in the trial], but more importantly I was so happy with the way he got through it.

"He would've had a lot of nerves and he would've had his fingers crossed in just getting through it - and he did it and he did it very well.

"He played well, but more importantly he got through injury free and it gives him a great opportunity to get his career going again after two real bad knee injuries."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

He's forced his way into the Green Machine - a fair effort in itself given the depth in the Raiders' forward pack, even without overcoming two serious injuries.

The 29-year-old impressed in Canberra's pre-season trial against the Sydney Roosters, but he also impressed Stuart with the way he handled himself during the pre-season.

That search for a fresh start has paid off at the start of a Raiders campaign where the sky's the limit.

Stuart didn't want to give too much away in regards to the make-up of his pack, other than James will be part of it.

In terms of middle forwards, Josh Papalii and Joe Tapine are certainties - and probably Sia Soliola as well - but the rest of the spots were up for grabs.

Dunamis Lui, Emre Guler, Ryan Sutton, Siliva Havili and Tom Starling were all fighting for three or four spots.

Competition would be even tougher if Corey Horsburgh and Corey Harawira-Naera weren't both suspended.

There was one thing about James that impressed Stuart the most.

"His commitment. His commitment to the club, commitment to his team," he said.

"He came down to Canberra early with his family and started pre-season training early with his under-21s.

"He was training with all the younger players and his commitment to want to get in and train with our rookies and our under-21s pre-Christmas showed me how committed he was.

"He caused a great feeling and buzz among the juniors when they were training with an 11-season NRL player, and I know he was passing on some advice to the younger guys - learning how to train and how to prepare in an NRL training program."

NRL ROUND ONE

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers at Canberra Stadium, 4.05pm.