James Schiller, the nephew of Raiders great Brett Mullins, will start alongside 2021 rookie of the year Matt Timoko for the Friday night match against the Sharks.

Veteran Jarrod Croker will begin his comeback in reserve grade, while Sebastian Kris is in COVID isolation and will miss the season-opener.

Young product Schiller was signed at the end of last season, having played just four games in NSW Cup with the Dragons before the comp was canned due to COVID. Schiller's playmaking skills were hard to ignore however, scoring three tries and breaking 15 tackles in those matches.

Schiller's uncle played 209 first-grade games, winning one premiership with the Raiders, as well as with the Roosters. Mullins was ecstatic when he heard the news.

"I'm very proud that another member of the family is putting on the green jumper," he said of his nephew.

"I'll send him a little text telling him to get involved as quick as he can to shake any nerves.

"I watched him play a couple of games... he showed a nice level head, obviously has a great footy head on him and the skills to boot, and he can play centre, fullback, or wing as well.

"I'm looking forward to see how he goes."

Despite playing so few games in NSW Cup, Mullins believes the Raiders "must've been impressed" with Schiller's efforts in pre-season to give him the nod to make his NRL debut so soon. Schiller doesn't even have a player profile on the Raiders' team website yet.

"He went well in the first trial," Mullins said.

"When he went down to St George Illawarra, COVID hit, so he hasn't had many games but they always had good raps on him. Hopefully he can prove himself come Friday.

"I think he'll do well.

"It's his very first game but I hope he has a nice, long career. He's still young, only 21, with the world at his feet."

The Green Machine officially begin their 2022 NRL campaign at Canberra Stadium in what will be five-eighth Jack Wighton's 200^th game.

Croker meanwhile will travel to Sydney for a NSW Cup clash with the Newtown Jets on Saturday.

Croker is nine games short of playing his milestone 300^th game, but he struggled through form and knee injury setbacks last season.

The Canberra co-captain underwent stem-cell knee treatment in the off-season in a bid to extend his playing career and Stuart has opted to give him more time to recover before throwing him into NRL action.

Timoko impressed in his nine NRL appearances last year and in pre-season trials with his speed and agility on the left-edge.

"He's a live ball. I'm sure you've seen his speed and footwork - if he gets half a metre, he's going to take it," teammate Hudson Young said of Timoko on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Kiwi told The Canberra Times he has taken his game to the next level after a gruelling pre-season.

"Where I come in is with a lot of energy," Timoko said.

"Ricky has helped me a lot. He's given me a lot of confidence this year, getting into the nitty-gritty of gaining line speed and making more tackles."

Timoko credited the work of Raiders trainers Jeremy Hickmans and Blake Duncan as being instrumental in giving the team an edge.

"They have done a wonderful job getting us ready for the season and ready to rip in," Timoko said.

"We changed up our training regimen to be faster, because that's how the game is. The boys are hitting speeds they haven't hit before.

"We're bringing a different mindset this year and changed our style of attack.

"We're going to be faster this year in comparison to previous years.

"There's really good buzz about this year and I'm really confident. We know where we need to be to get back to finals footy."

NRL ROUND 1

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at Canberra Stadium, 6pm.

Raiders: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. James Schiller, 4. Matt Timoko, 5. Semi Valemei, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Brad Schneider, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Corey Harawira-Naera, 13. Elliott Whitehead (C). Bench: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Adam Elliott, 17. Corey Horsburgh, 18. Ryan Sutton, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Trey Mooney, 21. Harry Rushton, 22. Jarrod Croker, 23. Xavier Savage, 24. Sam Williams

Injuries/Suspension

Jamal Fogarty - Knee - Round 15-17

Jordan Rapana - Suspended - Round 3

Peter Hola - Knee - Round 2-4

Harley Smith-Shields - Knee - Season

COVID Isolation List

Sebastian Kris

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