The Canberra Raiders are working on starting fast to avoid playing catch-up in their danger game against the Gold Coast Titans.
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Raiders forward Corey Harawira-Naera wants to become the impact king off the bench for the next few weeks, after playing a crucial role in the Green Machine's big comeback win over the New Zealand Warriors.
Harawira-Naera was part of an unchanged 17 to face the Titans at the Gold Coast on Saturday, which included star fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (hamstring) as part of an extended bench.
He expected Nicoll-Klokstad's return to boost competition for positions as the Raiders look to continue their charge towards the top eight - they sit just points differential out of the finals places.
The Raiders struggled to get going in their win over the Warriors, slipping 14-0 behind in the opening exchanges, and Harawira-Naera said they were flying into their training sessions to work on starting faster.
That was especially important against the lowly ranked Titans, with Harawira-Naera mindful of allowing complacency to creep in.
"We want to fly into training sessions as if it's the start of games so it becomes habit and second nature," he said.
"If we can start the first half like [we did in the second against the Warriors] we don't have to chase points like we have been.
"It doesn't matter who you play if you don't come out with the same energy or match it they can blow you off the park.
"Because we've won two in a row we're expected to beat [the Titans] and they're the sort of danger games we find ourselves not starting the way we want to.
"If we want to be the threat we want to be and know we can be, we need to start addressing that and starting better, and getting the jump on teams."
While Nicoll-Klokstad's edging towards an NRL return after 80 minutes in NSW Cup, Raiders prop Corey Horsburgh's still not ready to come back from the illness that kept him out of the win over the Melbourne Storm.
Both he and James Schiller (ankle) could make their returns in round 21.
Harawira-Naera expected Nicoll-Klokstad would create healthy competition for spots over the final six rounds.
"Nuck's just made his way back onto the field so there's going to be a bit of pressure there," he said.
"[Horsburgh] lost a heap of weight so I think he's got to put a bit of weight back on and try to get him back on the field as soon as he can."
Raiders prop Emre Guler revealed getting dropped to NSW Cup had been tough, but a focus on rediscovering his aggression had helped him return to the NRL fold for the past two games.
He played the opening six rounds of the season before getting dropped ahead of the Penrith clash.
The 24-year-old doesn't want to miss out on playing the big teams again and has his sights set on holding onto his spot for the rest of the season.
"It was pretty hard, especially the first couple of weeks - missing out on some big games - [against] Penrith and a couple of other top-four teams," Guler said.
"Those are the games I like to play in. I feel like I play my best footy in the big games.
"That was pretty hard to sit out those ones, but I knew what I had to do and just looking forward. Now I'm pumped, I can't wait, I'm excited.
"[Raiders coach Ricky Stuart] just wanted me to be a bit more urgent around the ball, a bit more aggressive with my line speed.
"The last couple of weeks I've been doing that. I feel like it helps my game a lot and I take it from there."
NRL ROUND 20
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Gold Coast Titans at Gold Coast, 3pm.
Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Albert Hopoate, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Emre Guler, 17. Corey Harawira-Naera. Reserves: 18. Matt Frawley, 19. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 20. Ata Mariota, 21. Semi Valemei, 22. Peter Hola.
Titans squad: 1. AJ Brimson, 2. Sosefo Fifita, 3. Phillip Sami, 4. Brian Kelly, 5. Patrick Herbert, 6. Tanah Boyd, 7. Toby Sexton, 8. Moeaki Fotuaika, 9. Aaron Booth, 10. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, 11. David Fifita, 12. Beau Fermor, 13. Erin Clark. Interchange: 14. Jayden Campbell, 15. Herman Ese'ese, 16. Isaac Liu, 17. Jaimin Jolliffe. Reserves: 18. Sam McIntrye, 19. Corey Thompson, 20. Greg Marzhew, 21. Alofiana Khan-Pereira, 22. Paul Turner.