Now the Raiders hooker has to find out if he meets the eligibility criteria to play for Ireland at the Rugby League World Cup later this year.

Starling's grandmother's parents are Irish, potentially opening the door for him to follow in White's footsteps and play for the Wolfhounds.

White played three games for Ireland in 2013, towards the end of a career that included representing Australia and NSW.

Perhaps Starling will now get the chance to do the same.

"I'll have to look into it, but if there's the possibility I'd love to do it, but I'll have to see," he said.

"My nan's mum and dad are Irish so I'll have to see what the eligibility is like.

"Whitey sent me something yesterday - they did a line up that could happen because they saw that I had an Irish background - and he goes, 'How good would this be'.

"That's at the end of the year, it's a long way away I guess - a bit happening before then."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Starling wasn't giving anything away in regards to what his role will be against Manly.

He came off the bench to help lift the Raiders to a come-from-behind victory against the Gold Coast Titans on the weekend.

It was widely expected he would take over the starting No.9 mantle in the absence of Josh Hodgson (knee), who's out for the rest of the season.

But Canberra utility Matt Frawley was given that job last weekend, playing the opening 25 minutes.

The Raiders also have young hooker Adrian Trevilyan, who impressed in NSW Cup on Saturday, waiting in the wings.

"You'll have to tune in Saturday and see," Starling said.

"[Stuart] decides that's all I think. Nah, it's just the game plan. We can chop and change whenever we want and it's just a thing that's week to week.

"Whatever will help get the two points is what we'll do."

Frawley said Raiders coach Ricky Stuart probably wouldn't tell them what their plans were against the Sea Eagles until later in the week.

"I'm not too sure. We haven't really discussed that. We didn't make that decision until a little bit later in the week last week so it's probably going to be the same process," he said.

"We'll probably have that set on Friday for our captain's run. I think it worked well, but I'm not too sure which way he's going to go."

Hodgson's known for the kicking game he brought to the hooker role.

While he wasn't satisfied with his kicks from dummy half on the weekend, it's something Frawley will also try to emulate when he's on the field.

He felt he could bring his experience as a halfback to the role to help take some pressure off Raiders halves Jack Wighton and Brad Schneider.

"Hopefully I can do a bit better than what I did on the weekend - it wasn't the greatest kick," Frawley said.

"I'm confident in my kicking game obviously being a half so if I can take some pressure off Jacko and Schneids and get a few kicks away I think it's going to be good for the team."

Starling hoped a more settled spine would help the Raiders build their consistency with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad at fullback and Schneider and Wighton in the halves.

"We're getting a good combination going there. [Schneider] is settling well - it's only his fourth game of NRL and he's playing like he's played over 50 ... and he's complementing Jacko's game really well," he said.

"It's only been three weeks. We've got a long season ahead and we'll keep building on it."

NRL ROUND FOUR

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Manly Sea-Eagles at Glen Willow Oval, Mudgee, 5.30pm

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 (c). Interchange: 14. Matt Frawley, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Adam Elliott, 17. Corey Horsburgh. Reserves: 18. Xavier Savage, 19. Ryan Sutton, 20. Adrian Trevilyan, 21. James Schiller 22. Sam Williams, 23. Trey Mooney, 24. Peter Hola.

Sea Eagles squad: 1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jason Saab, 3. Brad Parker, 4. Morgan Harper, 5. Reuben Garrick, 6. Kieran Foran, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans, 8. Sean Keppie, 9. Lachlan Croker, 10. Martin Taupau, 11. Haumole Olakau'atu, 12. Andrew Davey, 13. Jake Trbojevic. Interchange: 14. Dylan Walker, 15. Karl Lawton, 16. Ethan Bullemor, 17. Taniela Paseka. Reserves: 18. Toafofoa Sipley, 19. Josh Aloiai, 20. Tolutau Koula, 21. Jorge Taufua, 22. Kurt De Luis, 23. Christian Tuipulotu, 24. Alec Tuitavake.

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: