The Raiders have held informal talks with Hetherington, but were set to ramp up their efforts to lure the fiery forward to Canberra in the lead-up to taking on the Sydney Roosters at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.

Canberra had offered Elliott a three-year deal, but he's opted to join the Newcastle Knights instead.

The Knights were also chasing Hetherington, but whether they'll be able to fit both of the former Bulldogs into their salary cap is another thing.

That could open the door for the Green Machine to lure the son of Raiders 1994 premiership player Brett Hetherington to return to his place of birth.

"We're always looking for quality players. He's a quality player and if Canterbury can't keep him we'll definitely be interested," Raiders chief executive Don Furner said.

Meanwhile, Corey Horsburgh was excited at the opportunity to start at prop in the absence of Josh Papalii due to State of Origin.

Horsburgh will switch his mindset to be ready to go from the start rather than having 20-25 minutes on the bench first.

It's the first time he's started an NRL game since he ran out at lock in 2020.

Horsburgh said they took plenty of confidence out of their loss to the Parramatta Eels in an entertaining affair on the weekend.

The 24-year-old felt if they continued to build on it they would be a surprise packet come finals.

"I feel like we were better on the weekend, it was just those moments we lost," he said.

"They made those little breaks at important times that cost us the game. I'm pretty sure we won most of the stats and that's a big indicator of who generally wins. I think we just lost the moments.

"We can take some confidence out of that. They're a top-four team and we only lost by eight.

"It wasn't the best defensive performance so if we take some confidence out of that and keep building we'll be there at the end of the year and we'll shock a few teams."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Part of that building will be the laidback Queenslander putting aside his kicking game for the benefit of the team.

With the Eels pressing, Horsburgh took it on himself to put in a kick on the last tackle - only to mis-kick it.

To make matters worse, just as he went to sink the boot the referee called "six again" meaning he just needed to tuck the ball under his arm and take the hit-up.

"As I kicked it I heard six-again and I thought, 'Oh no'," Horsburgh said with a laugh.

"We've got to defend them. It was my mess up, but everyone makes a mistake every now and then.

"We've just got to defend it and move on, which we did.

"But it didn't look good. I've already revoked [my kicking licence] for myself. Never again."

NRL ROUND 13

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Sydney Roosters at Canberra Stadium, 4pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Matt Frawley, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Corey Horsburgh, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Corey Harawira-Naera, 17. Trey Mooney. Reserves: 18. James Schiller 19. Harry Rushton, 20. Adrian Trevilyan, 21. Brad Schneider.

Roosters squad: 1. Joseph Manu, 2. Billy Smith, 3. Paul Momirovski, 4. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Joseph Suaalii, 6. Sam Walker, 7. Luke Keary, 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9. Drew Hutchison, 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho, 11. Angus Crichton, 12. Sitili Tupouniua, 13. Nat Butcher. Interchange: 14. Connor Watson, 15. Fletcher Baker, 16. Egan Butcher, 17. Terrell May. Reserves: 18. Lachlan Lam, 19. Daniel Suluka-Fifita, 20. Adam Keighran, 21. Tom Carr, 22. Ben Marschke.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.

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: