Starling, who is due to appear in Gosford Local Court on January 11, and who has been banned from drinking alcohol as part of his bail conditions, is off-contract at the end of 2022.

Contract negotiations to extend Starling had progressed well prior to last month's arrest, and the club remains keen to secure the speedy hooker for the longer term with veteran Josh Hodgson's deal expiring at the end of 2022.

Hodgson has been strongly linked to the Wests Tigers during the off-season, but the club hasn't been able to cut a deal with the Raiders to negotiate his release.

He and Starling are both expected to front up to day one of pre-season training at the Raiders' Braddon headquarters on Friday morning.

Starling's arrest for threatening or causing injury to a potential witness/juror and behaving in an offensive manner in a public place last month follows on from a December incident on the Central Coast late last year.

On that occasion he copped seven charges stemming from another drunken night out, six of which were dropped a month later. He plead not guilty to the remaining charge of hindering police, and is due in court for a hearing in May next year.

The former Newcastle Knight usurped Hodgson last season as coach Ricky Stuart's preferred starting hooker, and finished fifth in the Mal Meninga Medal count with 11 votes after playing 19 games.

Despite constant speculation linking Hodgson to an imminent Wests Tigers move, the Englishman is still a big part of Stuart's plans for season 2022 despite his stepping down from the co-captaincy earlier this year.

It is understood the Tigers wanted Canberra to pay a significant amount of Hodgson's salary in 2022 if he shifted to Concord, something the Raiders were unwilling to do.

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He had been given permission to find another club before the end of his Raiders deal, believed to be worth $900,000 in 2022, but appears to have been unable to do so.

Hodgson this week told The Canberra Times he'd had a quiet off-season, and that he wouldn't be returning to England for a visit like teammate Elliott Whitehead plans to do.

"I've just been ticking away, doing a bit of training, [spending] a bit of time with the family," Hodgson said.

Younger members of the playing squad have already been back training for almost two weeks, including boom rookie Xavier Savage who burst onto the NRL scene last season before injuring his shoulder, which led to surgery.

Fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad also returned to training early.

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