Nick Cotric will rejoin his old Raiders teammates at preseason training on Friday after securing an immediate switch to the Green Machine.
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The 23-year-old local junior has signed a three-year deal to rejoin Canberra, who he played with for the first four seasons of his NRL career before an ill-fated stint with Canterbury.
His return comes a week after winger Bailey Simonsson departed the club suddenly for Parramatta, freeing up salary cap room and a roster spot for Cotric.
After scoring 46 tries in 93 matches for the Raiders, he joined the Bulldogs on a lucrative three-year contract but never settled at Belmore, and missed the back end of last season with a persistent toe injury.
As reported in The Canberra Times last week, Raiders officials had been confident of securing Cotric's signature in the wake of Simonsson's departure, pending approval from the NRL's salary cap department.
The big-spending Bulldogs, who were keen to offload Cotric and free up some salary cap space, are set to pay a percentage of his contract for the next two seasons.
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"Nick is a local boy who made his way through the local rugby league pathway program to the NRL, NSW and Australia while playing for us and we know the skills and capability he has as a player," Raiders chief Don Furner said.
"Nick has indicated to us that he's really excited about returning to Canberra and the Raiders, and we're confident he can play his best football for us.
"The Raiders are a proud development club who invest heavily in our pathway program and to have a top-level player like Nick Cotric who has been through our system return to the club is a show of faith in this."
Cotric's signing also follows on from last week's announcement that Josh Hodgson would join Parramatta in 2023.