And Jordan Rapana will be even more important with Canberra's other winger, Nick Cotric, ruled out with a quad injury. Sebastian Kris will take his place.

Rapana's not only the reigning Mal Meninga Medallist, as the Raiders' best player of 2021, but he's one of the best metre-eating wingers in the NRL.

The 32-year-old controversially missed the opening two games of the season due to suspension, but returns for their clash against the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.

His big body and hard carries out of yardage have become a crucial cog for Canberra - and they were sorely missed over the opening two rounds. Especially in the loss to the North Queensland Cowboys.

Rapana led the Raiders for run metres and was fourth for wingers in the NRL last season (3628m), with only Brian To'o, Daniel Tupou and Reuben Garrick chewing up more carpet out wide.

He also led the Green Machine for tries (12) in 2021, post-contact metres (1166m), tackle busts (138 - the most for an NRL winger), line breaks (15), runs (402) and kick return metres (748m).

It's certainly not lost on Raiders prop Joe Tapine.

"He's a character, but he's also got those strong carries from our end so that's going to help us this week," Tapine said.

"I thought we struggled a bit in that on the weekend. He's a great addition."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Cotric underwent a fitness test during the week, but he won't face the Titans.

He also missed last weekend's loss to the Cowboys with a quad injury, but he should be right to face Manly next week.

He's part of a mounting injury toll in Canberra, along with Josh Hodgson (knee) and Harley Smith-Shields (knee) for the rest of the season, Jamal Fogarty (knee) for half the season and co-captain Jarrod Croker was coming from a back injury.

"He's out. Seb Kris will be on the wing," Stuart said.

"It's pretty close, he could be right next week I'd say. He's probably just a couple of days short."

Stuart opted for Kris ahead of young gun Xavier Savage, preferring the electric fullback to continue his development in the NSW Cup.

But another injury in the outside backs and he looks set to be the next cab off the rank.

The 20-year-old excited Raiders fans with his performance at fullback in the pre-season and has many of them calling for him to be given an opportunity on the wing.

Stuart felt he wasn't completely ready to make a permanent move to the NRL just yet.

"Xavier's doing really well, but I'm still teaching Xavier a lot about his awareness of playing fullback and wing at NSW Cup level and I want Xavier to be learning the game and making those errors in NSW Cup so when he comes to NRL he's ready to play," he said.

"But I'm really happy with how Xavier's progression is going.

"I like to look after our younger players of the future and I feel we get it right by debuting players at the right time of their career and Brad Schneider's a classic example.

"There was an urge to play Brad Schneider last year and I didn't think he was ready.

"And he certainly is now ready and I'm doing the same with Xavier Savage - putting his welfare first and making sure when he comes into NRL contention he will be ready to play."

It was similar thinking around young hooker Adrian Trevilyan.

Stuart opted for Matt Frawley in the No.14 jersey to face the Titans after Trevilyan made his NRL debut last weekend.

Trevilyan played the final 23 minutes of the 26-6 loss, but will drop back to play NSW Cup this week.

Stuart wanted the 20-year-old to get minutes under his belt in the Cup after two years of limited football - rather than cool his heels on the bench behind Tom Starling.

"Adrian's still very young and ... I don't need him getting 10-15 minutes at the moment," he said.

"He hasn't played a lot of football over the last two seasons because of COVID, as with a lot of these young players, and he needs to go back - it's something I've told him - he needs go back and get as many minutes as he can in NSW Cup so when he comes back up into grade he's had a number of minutes of football."

NRL ROUND THREE

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium, 7.35pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matthew Timoko, 4. Semi Valemei, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Brad Schneider, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Tom Starling, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Corey Harawira-Naera, 13. Elliott Whitehead. Interchange: 14. Matt Frawley, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Adam Elliott, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Xavier Savage, 19. Ryan Sutton, 20. Adrian Trevilyan, 21. Sebastian Kris, 22. Sam Williams, 23. Trey Mooney, 24. Harry Rushton.

Titans squad: 1. Jayden Campbell, 2. Phillip Sami, 3. Brian Kelly, 4. Patrick Herbert, 5. Greg Marzhew, 6. Alexander Brimson, 7. Toby Sexton, 8. Moeaki Fotuaika, 9. Erin Clark, 10. Isaac Liu, 11. David Fifita, 12. Beau Fermor, 13. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui. Interchange: 14. Will Smith, 15. Sam Lisone, 16. Jaimin Jolliffe, 17. Kevin Proctor. Reserves: 18. Herman Ese'ese, 19. Esan Marsters, 20. Jarrod Wallace, 21. Sam McIntyre, 22. Jamayne Isaako, 23. Paul Turner, 24. Sosefo Fifita.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: