The Raiders are set to radically overhaul their away game logistics to increase post-match sleeping hours in a bid to maximise recovery on the road.
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Canberra is looking into the possibility of staying overnight in Sydney after fixtures in the Harbour City, rather than taking a coach back to the capital which can mean arriving home as late as 3am.
Under the new plan being looked into by coaching and medical staff, Raiders players would stay in a Sydney hotel immediately after a match, and head home early the following morning.
It would mark a significant shift in the way the club approaches Sydney games, which for most of the club's history has involved traveling back to Canberra on a bus post-match.
"You're better off having a good sleep after a game, your best rehabilitation and recovery is your sleep after a game," Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.
"The last two away trips have meant we're getting home at two and three o'clock in the morning and it knocks your sleep cycle around, your next day's a pretty slow, dead day because of the lack of sleep the night before.
"That day's always a rest day post game, but rest day is they're going in, they're getting some physio, rehabilitation, recovery. They might be in the hydro baths.
"Just getting home at an ungodly hour like that - it has an effect on your preparation early in the week.
"[It's] never an excuse because it's something that we've done for many many years but it is something that we're going to look into in regards to that late night travel. It does have an effect on your routine at training."
For this week's trip to Townsville, Stuart's men flew up on Thursday afternoon and won't return to Canberra until Sunday making it a 72-hour round trip.
Ironically, Raiders players tend to sleep better on the longer away trips given they have more time to get settled, and they're not required to rush home after full-time.
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"Coming up here and getting into a normal routine is something they're used to, we always come two nights before a game in Townsville and have our captain's run in Townsville, it's good to find a bit of routine," Stuart said.
"We've only got a five-day turnaround going into Souths with a full-day travel on one of those days which is Sunday this week so it's important how we pull up, and how we recover from this game and move into the next game."
Stuart's side has lost three of their past four matches, and the coach wielded the selection axe this week dropping Joe Tapine and Sia Soliola from his 17, and shifting Josh Papalii to the bench.
The club celebrates two milestones against the Cowboys with Ryan James playing his 150th NRL match, and Siliva Havila notching his 100th.
"They're two really [well] liked team members," Stuart said.
"Ryan James is a very experience campaigner and Liva's becoming that really experienced type of NRL player too. It'll be a good milestone for both of them. Liva's got a lot of time left in the game, Ryan's a really experienced player now with a bit of bad luck, he's found his feet really well with us.
"We've been starting games well but we've got to stay in the fight for a longer period of play.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
