He's a fighter. Has been since he was 18 months old when he needed a police escort from Caboolture to a Brisbane hospital, with an infection so severe his old man Rick tells you "we nearly lost him".

He's the kind of bloke who wears his heart on his sleeve and will stand toe-to-toe with just about anybody, the kind of guy Raiders officials once said ate near-raw chicken because he was hungry and tired of waiting for it to cook all the way through.

All that, and this from Raiders coach Ricky Stuart: "Corey doesn't handle not playing very well, mate, he's a kid who needs to be playing footy".

Because this Horsburgh is a footballer, and he is relishing a return to the Raiders for a must-win NRL clash with the New Zealand Warriors in Mackay on Friday night.

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The 23-year-old returns to Stuart's squad following a stint with Canterbury, which helped the Bulldogs in their time of need and the Raiders get minutes into players who needed them.

Opportunities in reserve grade have been limited for those outside a starting 17 during the past two years due to the impact of COVID-19, with the NSW Cup now axed again for the second successive season.

Horsburgh has played two NRL games - both in rival colours - since May. But Stuart knows exactly what he is going to get from the Green Machine firebrand as they fight to save their finals hopes.

"He needs his teammates around him, he needs to be training knowing the fact at the end of the week of preparation, knowing he is playing," Stuart said.

"Corey is excited by the fact he is back playing with his mates. What he brings to us, he's a nice, tough player in the middle. He brings a point of difference in our attack.

"He has just got to keep getting more minutes under his belt and he will keep producing more form. It's very hard for young people to understand, but at the start of the year [after] both Emre [Guler] and Corey missed a lot of football last season and they came back to pre-season doing more of a rehabilitation pre-season.

"Once they got back playing five or six NSW Cup games, they were getting some football under their belts and conditioning that was definitely needed. Then they could transfer back into first grade.

"Emre has kicked on and Corey hurt his arm so he had another lengthy stint on the sideline. It's been a little bit of a disrupted two seasons, especially with Corey.

"Corey is a really important part of our squad, and the thing that has kept him out of first grade when he returned to play after injury was the fact he couldn't get minutes, we haven't been playing at a lower level.

"That has been a really difficult scenario for all clubs, not having their NSW Cup teams playing. It gives the younger blokes less development time and minutes to produce form and or get game conditioning."

Friday's showdown in Mackay is simply do-or-die for the Raiders. A loss would almost certainly spell the end of their finals ambition.

Stuart is asked whether he has had to stress that point this week, the fact this is it, finals football effectively starts now.

"To be honest I haven't mentioned that, because I don't need to. There's not a game we go out there not to play to win," Stuart said.

"Every week, we turn up to win every training session let alone every game. I don't need to change our preparation towards our performance. They want to win a game of table tennis let alone a training session or a game of football. That's the character in the club and the squad."

For what it's worth, there is a ping pong table at the Raiders' Queensland base, and "there's certainly a golf course".

"When Kelsey Rapana lets Jordan play, I've never seen a more excited man because he loves his golf," Stuart grinned.

NRL ROUND 24

Friday: New Zealand Warriors v Canberra Raiders at Mackay, 6pm.

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

Warriors squad: 1. Reece Walsh, 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 3. Peta Hiku, 4. Adam Pompey, 5. Marcelo Montoya, 6. Sean O'Sullivan, 7. Chad Townsend, 8. Addin Fonua-Blake, 9. Wayde Egan, 10. Matthew Lodge, 11. Josh Curran, 12. Euan Aitken, 13. Bayley Sironen. Interchange: 14. Kodi Nikorima, 15. Bunty Afoa, 16. Eliesa Katoa, 17. Jazz Tevaga. Reserves: 18. Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, 20. Rocco Berry, 21. Kane Evans, 22. Jack Murchie.

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