Stuart was permitted back to Raiders HQ from 4pm on Tuesday after completing a one-week ban from all club activities for his infamous "weak-gutted dog" outburst against Jaeman Salmon.

Due to the timing of the suspension's end, Raiders assistants Brett White, Andrew McFadden, and Mick Frawley picked the team for the Knights clash.

Stuart will be pleased to see Tapine return to the starting lineup having overcome a rib injury sustained in their loss to the Panthers two weeks ago.

After the Dragons game Corey Horsburgh predicted he may have to step back to NSW Cup as he continues to get back to full fitness following his pneumonia battle, but the forward has been named on the bench for the trip to Newcastle beside fellow prop Emre Guler, pushing Englishman Ryan Sutton to the reserves.

Cotric meanwhile slots straight back onto the wing after serving a one-match suspension for a high tackle on Penrith's Dylan Edwards. Talented back Albert Hopoate drops to 18th man as a result, after a strong showing at NRL level in recent weeks.

Cotric also confirmed to The Canberra Times an important change in the pronunciation of his surname.

In an unusual twist, Cotric - correctly pronounced 'Chotch-rich' - has decided he would like people to mispronounce his surname back to 'Kot-rick', after hearing one too many butchered attempts within rugby league.

Cotric is proud of his Serbian background, and he's not the only NRL player with that heritage.

There's the Trbojevic brothers at Manly - Tom and Jake - and Tom Opacic at Parramatta. Both of those surnames have mixed interpretations of their pronunciation too, but since 2019 Cotric encouraged his name to be said, 'Chotch-rich'.

On his NSW Blues Origin jumper that year he even opted to have accents included over the 'C' letters in his surname on his back, reflecting that preferred pronunciation.

But after few years of poor attempts, Cotric has chosen to accept the mispronounced version going forward.

"It's actually 'Chotch-rich' but some people get it wrong, so I'll just keep it at 'Kot-rick' for now," he said. "It's just easier that way so I just want to keep it to that.

"I think it's just been too hard for people to pronounce.

"My dad said, 'Mate keep it as 'Kot-rick',' so we'll keep it as that.

"All my relatives back in Serbia on my mum's side, they all say it how it is meant to be pronounced back there, but I'll keep it plain and simple here.

"I'm just going to let it slide."

Cotric will be keen to come back firing on the weekend after one game watching on the sidelines.

The last time the Raiders faced Newcastle in June, the Green Machine came out two-point winners.

This time around Newcastle will be without star playmaker Kalyn Ponga who is recovering from a concussion, as well as dealing with a media storm over a toilet video featuring teammate Kurt Mann which the NRL integrity unit is investigating.

In a separate incident, the Knights have stood down Enari Tuala and Bradman Best for being late to the team bus on the trip back from Brisbane last week, meaning a team re-shuffle for the Raiders showdown.

NRL ROUND 23

Sunday: Newcastle Knights v Canberra Raiders at Newcastle Stadium, 4pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 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. Emre Guler, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Corey Harawira-Naera. Reserves: 18. Albert Hopoate, 19. Ata Mariota, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Ryan Sutton, 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Knights squad: 1. Tex Hoy, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Krystian Mapapalangi, 5. Dominic Young, 6. Anthony Milford, 7. Adam Clune, 8. David Klemmer, 9. Jayden Brailey (C), 10. Daniel Saifiti, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Brodie Jones, 13. Jacob Saifiti. Interchange: 14. Phoenix Crossland, 15. Pasami Saulo, 16. Simi Sasagi, 17. Mathew Croker. Reserves: 18. Sauaso Sue, 19. Chris Randall, 20. Jack Johns, 21. Oryn Keeley, 22. Hymel Hunt.

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