He's been named in the Green Machine's first pre-season trial - against the Sydney Roosters at Leichhardt Oval on Friday.

It's his first game since round 22 last year, when the chronic knee problem threatened to end his career.

But stem-cell surgery in the off-season has given him a new lease on life and he'll prepare to face the Roosters in the first of Canberra's two trials.

The Raiders squad will head to the Central Coast on Monday for a mini camp to prepare for their second trial against the Manly Sea Eagles at Gosford Friday week.

It was unclear whether the coronavirus would force it to be cancelled, but Raiders chief executive Don Furner confirmed it will go ahead.

"They're going up after this weekend," he said.

"We all know there's going to be issues this year, but the protocols in place are there to minimise disruptions and infections.

"It's not going to eliminate it, we've just got to minimise it.

"Considering we didn't have a pre-season camp because of COVID [Raiders coach Ricky Stuart] just thought this was the next best thing because we'll be up there anyway so we might as well parlay that into a trial game."

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Croker's just nine games short of 300 and has climbed to third on the all-time overall point-scoring table - behind just Cameron Smith and Hazem El Masri.

How his knee handles the increased intensity will go a long way to determining whether he's available for round one against the Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium on March 11.

The Raiders will already be without winger Jordan Rapana for the opening two rounds, due to his NRL All Stars suspension for a shoulder charge on David Fifita.

As revealed by The Canberra Times, Corey Horsburgh will get a run as he returns from a shoulder reconstruction.

Stuart has also shown a glimpse of the future with Xavier Savage at fullback, Matt Frawley at hooker and Trey Mooney in the second row.

Stuart also named Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, recruit Adam Elliott and Corey Harawira-Naera in a team that contained a smattering of experience.

His team for the trial against Manly at Gosford next Friday was expected to be closer to what he'll name for round one against the Sharks.

It's believed Nicoll-Klokstad will play half a game, with Xavier Savage to play the other half at fullback.

Raiders fans will get their first glimpse of Elliott in lime green, after he joined the club following his release from the Bulldogs due to several off-field incidents.

Fijian flyer Semi Valemei has been named in the centres - a position he's trained in during the pre-season.

Harley Smith-Shields was set to fill one of the centre roles, but a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago has ended those plans.

The Raiders had reportedly signed former Canterbury Bulldogs assistant Kelly Egan as a replacement for Peter Mulholland, who died of cancer late last year, as recruitment boss, but that's not the case.

While they have spoken to Egan, the Green Machine were yet to finalise a replacement and were still in discussions with several other candidates as well.

"We're speaking to him," Furner said.

NRL PRE-SEASON TRIAL

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Sydney Roosters at Leichhardt Oval, 6pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Albert Hopoate, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Semi Valemei, 5. James Schiller, 6. Brad Schneider, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Corey Horsburgh, 9. Matt Frawley, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Adam Elliott, 12. Trey Mooney, 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 15. Sebastian Kris, 16. Peter Hola, 17. Corey Harawira-Naera, 18. Brad Morkos, 19. Ata Mariota, 20. Harry Rushton, 21. Clay Webb, 22. Adrian Trevilyan.