Raiders enforcer Josh Papalii said Stuart had spent his week's suspension working on new plays ahead of their crucial clash against the Newcastle Knights at Newcastle on Sunday.

Such was the boost of Stuart's return to the fold, Canberra second-rower Corey Harawira-Naera revealed they were looking to keep a lid on their enthusiasm to ensure their focus remained on winning the final three games to have a chance of sneaking into the NRL top eight.

Stuart returned to Raiders HQ on Wednesday after his one-week suspension where he was not only banned from all coaching duties for calling Penrith half Jaeman Salmon a "weak-gutted dog", but also any contact with anyone at the club.

Papalii said his Green Machine mentor had put his time off to good use.

Their attack is one area they've struggled with this season - they're ranked 10^th for points scored.

A boost there would be a timely one as they look to make a charge into the top eight.

"He's come in with so many good ideas - sitting at home with the pen and paper coming up with all these plays," Papalii said.

"It's good fun. He means so much to the club and the club means so much to him. He wears his heart on his sleeve and it shows on his return.

"He was straight back into his office, straight to doing meetings with the boys. We love 'Stick' and it's good to have him back."

Harawira-Naera said Stuart's return had been a boost ahead of the Knights clash.

"Yeah a little bit. He said he's going to try and control the enthusiasm around the joint. We'll see how that plays out," he said.

"I think his missus was getting sick of him last week. Nah, it's good to see him back.

"He said he's feeling refreshed, had a week's break for himself, but he said it's a bit different watching from home than it is on the field."

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He revealed they'd spoken about the need to improve their points differential for a while now.

That's yet to come to fruition - it's still -31 - and Harawira-Naera said it could be something that hurts them at the end of the regular season.

The Raiders need to win their remaining three games - against the Knights, Manly and Wests Tigers - but also need results to go their way - especially with the eighth-placed Sydney Roosters, who have hit form at the business end of the season.

"We've been speaking about it for a bit that our for-and-against isn't that good," Harawira-Naera said.

"It's not on our side if we end up finishing on the same points as others.

"There's a few games this year that we could've helped that out a bit, but we've let teams back into the game.

"The two points are more important, but if we can get our for-and-against up a bit higher."

NRL ROUND 23

Sunday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights 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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