A familiar face for many Canberra players will be hoping to become the architect of their demise this weekend, as the Green Machine's English contingent square off with their national coach, Wayne Bennett.
Having tasted defeat only once in 2019, Bennett and the Rabbitohs present a formidable challenge for a Raiders outfit which last two of its past three games.
England and Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson knows Bennett will have his team up for one of the games of the round on Saturday night.
"You know what Wayne brings, he keeps you honest and keeps the game simple," Hodgson said
"He's all about turning up for your mate and that's how they're playing at the moment, they're turning up for their mate no matter what's happening in the game.
Every try from Round 9
"They've got all of the signs of a Wayne Bennett team and they're playing confident footy.
"He knows how to get teams going and to get you up for games and he's a really good reader of people and what they need during the week."
Hodgson said Canberra's improved start to the season can be traced to the team trying to focus on in-house matters as opposed to being too concerned with opposing teams' strength and weakness.
"That's similar to what we’ve been working really hard on this season, working hard for each other," he said
"I think we've got a good combination of looking at ourselves and our standards a little bit more as opposed to concentrating too much on the opposition, which we will be doing a bit of this week."
One of the big changes made by Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is placing Nick Cotric at right centre in the wake of Joey Leilua's season-ending neck injury.
With the NSW State of Origin team to be named after round 11, it's a golden chance for Cotric to impress according to Jarrod Croker.
"It's a good opportunity for Nick, but in saying that I thought Oldy (Michael Oldfield) has done really well the last couple of weeks, scoring a couple of tries," Croker said,
"But it's a chance for Nick to put his best foot forward and possibly stay in that jersey for the rest of the season."
If he plays this weekend, Sebastian Kris will become Raider No.361, with the 20-year-old getting his chance after Oldfield was moved to the right wing to cover for the injured Jordan Rapana.
"It's really exciting for Sebby, a junior coming through from Tuggeranong and then the 20s, so it's something the club is very proud of to produce local juniors," Croker said.
"He's still eligible for 20s but he trialled well so he gets on, during the weekend he'll have a job to do and I think he'll be right to do it."
