The move coincided with some good and bad injury news for the Green Machine, with Bailey Simonsson (toes) returning on the Raiders wing to cover the loss of Semi Valemei (larynx), who could be out for at least two weeks.

Sia Soliola returned to the 17 Stuart named to face the Melbourne Storm at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Thursday night.

Horsburgh has been out with a wrist injury since round 12, but was back to full fitness.

Given the Raiders middles stocks were back to full strength, Horsburgh and James have been given the opportunity to get some match fitness - James hasn't played since round 18 - as the Green Machine hoped to roll into an NRL finals campaign.

James was named to start for the Bulldogs against the New Zealand Warriors at Redcliffe on Sunday, while Horsburgh will start on the bench.

The Bulldogs have been hit by the suspensions of props Dylan Napa and Jack Hetherington, joining the already suspended England international Luke Thompson and prop Ofahiki Ogden (ankle) on the sidelines.

"We've got two loan players, Corey Horsburgh and Ryan James, going to be playing for Canterbury this weekend," Stuart said.

"Canterbury are going through a very difficult situation at the moment. They're in the same hub as us.

"They're desperate for players and we're fortunately in a position where our middles are fresh and healthy and I can loan them Corey Horsburgh and Ryan James.

"At one stage they were not sure if they could get permission for two - they had permission for one, but needed permission for two - so that's across the line."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Soliola replaced Elijah Anderson on the Raiders' bench, after Anderson made his NRL debut in the win over St George Illawarra.

Raiders centre Sebastian Kris was named on an extended bench having missed the Dragons game due to concussion.

"Bailey's in for Semi and Sia comes onto the bench," Stuart said.

"[Valemei] had a fractured larynx, so we're hoping it's only two weeks."

Valemei's hard work out of the Raiders' own half will be missed, with Stuart calling on his other outside backs to help fill the void.

The 22-year-old Fijian has averaged 148 run metres this season - and 178.6m over the past five games.

Simonsson has missed the past five games with a toe injury he suffered in the loss to the Gold Coast Titans.

"Semi's been great ... our outside backs have really got a big job to do in covering the metres that Semi has been making, because he's been gaining around 150-170m a game," Stuart said.

"We need some people to jump on now and cover those metres from an outside back point of view."

NRL ROUND 22

Thursday: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm at Sunshine Coast Stadium, 7.50pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Matt Timoko, 5. Harley Smith-Shields, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Corey Harawira-Naera, 17. Sia Soliola. Reserves: 18. Sebastian Kris, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Dunamis Lui, 21. Siliva Havili.

Storm squad: 1. Nicholas Hynes, 2. Dean Ieremia, 3. Reimis Smith, 4. Justin Olam, 5. Josh Addo-Carr, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Brandon Smith, 10. Christian Welch, 11. Felise Kaufusi, 12. Kenneath Bromwich, 13. Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14. Harry Grant, 15. Chris Lewis, 16. Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 17. Ryan Papenhuyzen. Reserves: 18. Tom Eisenhuth, 19. Tepai Moeroa, 20. Jordan Grant, 21. Isaac Lumelume.