Raiders assistant coach Andrew McFadden revealed the Green Machine had practiced what to do if one of the coaches was ruled out with the virus.

It's meant they haven't skipped a beat in the build up to their must-win clash against St George Illawarra at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.

McFadden and his fellow assistants Brett White, Mick Crawley and Joel Carbone slipped straight into their roles as ninth-placed Canberra look to keep their season alive with a win over the Dragons.

The pandemic has thrown almost every possibility at football clubs over the past two years and that in turn has helped the Raiders in the wake of Stuart's one-week suspension for calling a Penrith player a "weak-gutted dog" on the weekend.

They've already had some practice at it, with NSW Cup coach Carbone contracting the virus - forcing him to miss a week earlier in the season.

Stuart stepped up to coach the reserves that week and now the rest of the staff will step up to cover his absence until Tuesday.

"We actually did a couple of dummy runs throughout the pre-season around what would happen if any of us went down and how we'd fill those roles," McFadden said.

"Fortunately we've done that and COVID's forced that. We're probably a lot more prepared for that situation to happen than we may have been before."

McFadden said they would stick to their usual game-day roles, with White continuing in his usual role of running the water.

They will collectively decide how to use the bench - they already played a role in advising Stuart what changes to ring.

He said they'd even share the media duties - although McFadden said he would likely leave the post-match press conference to someone else.

It's something he's done before as the head coach of the New Zealand Warriors during his 62-game stint in charge.

"It's business as usual ... in terms of operating we'll do all the same roles," McFadden said.

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"It'll just be someone else to do the press conference and all the other media commitments, but we'll share that around.

"We'll just absorb that together. We've got a role on game day in the box and we advise Ricky anyway around changes.

"We'll keep the same roles. Brett White will be on the field, and myself and Mick Crawley will be up in the box and we'll just have that responsibility ultimately this week."

That time with the Warriors - before he returned to Canberra as an assistant - gave him an understanding of what Stuart's going through this week.

Stuart's known for his passion - not just for the Green Machine, but Canberra as well - making the fact he won't be allowed at Canberra Stadium to watch his beloved Raiders play all the harder to take.

"It'd be really tough to have it taken away - particularly for Ricky, I know he'll be doing it tough - but I'm sure Ricky's got confidence we can get the job done as well," McFadden said.

"I know he's going to have to be twiddling his thumbs at home, but I know he's got confidence in us."

NRL ROUND 22

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v St George Illawarra Dragons at Canberra Stadium, 2pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Albert Hopoate, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Adam Elliott. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Ryan Sutton, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Corey Harawira-Naera. Reserves: 18. James Schiller, 19. Ata Mariota, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Peter Hola, 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Dragons squad: 1. Moses Mbye, 2. Mat Feagai, 3. Jack Bird, 4. Zac Lomax, 5. Tautau Moga, 6. Talatau Amone, 7. Ben Hunt (c), 8. Jack de Belin, 9. Andrew McCullough, 10. Blake Lawrie, 11. Josh McGuire, 12. Jayden Su'a, 13. Michael Molo. Interchange: 14. Tyrell Sloan, 15. Aaron Woods, 16. Tyrell Fuimaono , 17. Billy Burns. Reserves: 18. Jayden Sullivan, 19. Jackson Ford, 20. Jaiyden Hunt, 21. Cody Ramsey 22. Jack Gosiewski.

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