Bushfires laid foundation for Canberra Raiders' Queensland camp

The Raiders begin their 2023 NRL campaign against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville and then the Redcliffe Dolphins in Brisbane.

The Canberra Times revealed in November the Raiders would look at a Queensland camp across those opening two rounds.

That's now been locked in with the Green Machine set to depart for Townsville on the Thursday - their usual two days before a game in Far North Queensland - and then spend the following week on the Sunshine Coast to prepare for the Dolphins clash.

Both games kick off at 4.30pm Queensland time and will start in the heat of the day.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart consulted his senior players, as he does with a lot of decisions, to see if they thought there'd be any benefit - especially since a lot of the players have young families and will be away for more than a week.

The Banana State will be a common hunting ground for the Raiders over the opening 10 rounds of the season - they also play the Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park in round six and then face the Canterbury Bulldogs there for Magic Round.

When the Raiders hierarchy started looking at an early season camp they realised they already had the blueprint for it.

Three years ago, as bushfires engulfed Canberra's surrounds and the South Coast, the Green Machine needed to flee the capital to find a heathy place to train.

The air was toxic - especially for professional athletes trying to train - but a shift to the Sunshine Coast proved a breath of fresh air.

"We've locked it in. We're pretty well replicating the same makeshift camp we organised three years ago when the bushfire smoke prevented us from training in Canberra," Raiders football manager Matt Ford said.

"We had 48 hours to pull together a 10-day camp on the Sunny Coast. It was a really effective camp.

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"The facilities are great up there, the accommodation, the restaurants and the eateries we went to - everything was really high quality.

"So we just figured with the first two games up in Queensland and the heat and the humidity - and the obvious difference to Canberra's climate - we just figured we were better off staying up there."

The average maximum temperature in Brisbane and Townsville in March is 29 and 30 degrees respectively - compared with Canberra's average of 25.

While it will be business as usual for the Townsville trip, it's expected the Raiders will reap the rewards for their Dolphins clash.

It will be the NRL expansion side's first NRL home game at Moreton Daily Stadium.

The Raiders have played there previously - against the New Zealand Warriors last year.

"We think so [it should help against the Dolphins] ... there's debate around how long it takes to acclimatise anyway, but the reality is we're up there [in Townsville] for a couple of days which is enough time to physically and mentally get your head around the heat," Ford said.

"And then staying up there in that heat leading into Redcliffe will hopefully benefit us because clearly we've got two afternoon games in the hottest part of the season.

"They're not Saturday night games, they're in the heat of the day so any minor benefit will be appreciated."

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