Tom Starling is used to the Canberra Raiders being written off.
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But that won't stop the Green Machine after they sent a clear message to the NRL and their critics with a gutsy 28-12 victory over the Newcastle Knights on Thursday night.
The Raiders were further boosted on Friday when star forwards Hudson Young and Emre Guler escaped suspension, while hooker Danny Levi pulled up well after suffering a corked quadriceps.
Plus, Canberra welcomes back New Zealand international Sebastian Kris from suspension to bolster the backline.
Both Young and Guler were expected to take the early guilty pleas for their grade-one dangerous contact charges, which would result in $750 and $1000 fines, respectively.
Young was charged with high contact on Knights star Kalyn Ponga, which earned him 10 minutes in the sin bin, while Guler was on report for a hip-drop tackle on Dylan Lewis.
The Raiders' win over the Knights was a brilliant start to the season as they got a modicum of revenge for their finals exit in Newcastle last year.
"Yeah, mate, we're used to everyone writing us off. They can keep writing us off and we'll keep showing up," Starling told The Canberra Times.
"We know what we've got here. We'll let the experts say what they've got to say, but we'll just do what we've got to do."
Starling provided a spark when he came off the bench for the final 24 minutes - exemplified by his effort to force Knights winger Greg Marzhew back in goal, with some help from enforcer Josh Papali'i, following a Jamal Fogarty kick.
The game was still in the balance at that stage, with the Green Machine up 14-6.
Starling labelled it a "big team effort" and felt the win laid a platform for the rest of their season.
That starts with the Wests Tigers at Canberra Stadium next Saturday - the Raiders' first home game of the campaign.
Starling called on Canberrans to come out in force.
"Getting back is going to be exciting," he said.
"I know the Raiders fans will show out in Canberra for our first home game and hopefully pack that out.
"It's a good win [on Thursday night], but we're straight back onto the Tigers and starting to build on this."
The whole Raiders back five performed well, giving Raiders coach Ricky Stuart another selection headache with Kris available.
All five of the outside backs ran for more than 100 metres, with both fullback Jordan Rapana and wing Xavier Savage scoring tries.
"[Stuart] wants to have those headaches. He said hasn't had these headaches in seasons gone. It's healthy for the team, the whole squad," Starling said.
"We're going to need to rely on a lot of players throughout the whole season.
"The teams that go deep into finals have good depth. It's a big squad and big family."
NRL ROUND TWO
March 16: Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers at Canberra Stadium, 3pm.