Croker returns to the fray against the New Zealand Warriors on Saturday, roughly 21 weeks after his off-season surgery which repaired a damaged rotator cuff and reattached a biceps tendon.

He's a welcome return for coach Ricky Stuart who was careful not to rush his inspirational leader back from the longest injury lay off of his 279-game NRL career.

The brilliant Kris gave Stuart that option - Croker was cleared by his surgeon to resume full-contact training prior to round one, but was given an extra fortnight to rebuild his playing confidence.

And Kris used the brief opportunity to prove his worth as an NRL player, scoring a try in last weekend's narrow win over Cronulla and easily laying claim to being one of the Raiders' best in the first two rounds.

"I need to go in and play well, I can't just expect to slide back in there, he's played that well that I've got a job to go out and do now - that's the sort of depth and pressure we need around the club," Croker said.

"He came back in mid November, long before the boys came back in, and he's been leading the fitness ever since.

"Everyone saw how hard he was working and for him to get that opportunity first game and then second game, and be one of our best players both games, it's been great.

"It's the depth we have and he's also held out guys like Matty Timoko and Harley Smith-Shields.

"It doesn't matter who you are, especially in the last couple of seasons here. . .look at our reserve grade side this weekend, there's heaps of NRL experience in that team.

"There's always pressure there, you've always got to play well regardless of who you are. They're the standards we set and that's the depth we've got around here, I've got to go out there and go well now."

Croker badly injured his shoulder in last year's preliminary final loss to the Melbourne Storm, but refused to leave the field.

Just days later he was recovering from shoulder surgery and staring at the prospect of missing the first month of the NRL season.

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His rehabilitation finished ahead of schedule and he could have played round one had Stuart been desperate for his services.

"Sometimes weeks are just a number and it doesn't sort of mean too much, generally I'm a pretty quick healer with any sort of injury I've had," Croker said.

"There's been blokes here who have done it in the past who have taken 28 weeks to get it right, they've had to go back in and get it fixed again.

"Aidan Sezer was 23 or 24 weeks, and then Rapa [Jordan Rapana] came back in 19 or 20 weeks. Rapa probably trains the least out of all those boys, it's hard to know, I think Rapa was playing golf and surfing when he wasn't meant to be and he came back in 19 weeks and by 20 weeks he was fine.

"I thought if I can get around that 20 weeks, I think I'm a bit over 21 now, that was a rough goal. Given that extra couple of weeks puts the confidence back in and makes me forget about it a bit."

Croker's return is the only change for Stuart as he looks to repeat Canberra's 2020 start and collect a hat-trick of wins to start the NRL season.

The Warriors won impressively in round one, and will count themselves unlucky not to have beaten high-flying Newcastle last weekend after conceding a 74^th minute Hymel Hunt try.

They'll be without playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita, who has been ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a stress fracture in his foot, but Croker still expected a vastly improved opponent to the side which finished 10^th in 2020.

"We know what they've gone through over the past 15 or 18 months, they're playing with a lot of pride and passion, they've got the whole of New Zealand behind them," Croker said.

"To finish the way they did and then come out and start the year the way they have is a credit to them. They've got a really strong squad, they've signed some good players, some big boys in Addin Fonua-Blake and [Ben] Murdoch Masila - it's not going to be an easy game."