The Canberra Raiders will begin their 2018 campaign with a trial match against the Bulldogs on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday February 17 at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
With no Auckland Nines or NRL All-Stars scheduled for 2018 the Raiders will use the trial as the main hit out for the team ahead of the season, with the Green Machine set to come up against one of their former Assistant Coaches Dean Pay who is now in charge of the Bulldogs.
The Rugby League World Cup will capture most of the attention heading into the end of 2017, with the 10 Raiders representatives not scheduled to return to pre-season training until the New Year, however the remainder of the Raiders squad will be in training from November 1 in preparation for the trial match in February and season ahead.
Raiders Coach Ricky Stuart will look to finalise how the team for the trial is made up closer to February, once he’s had the opportunity to see how the pre-season has unfolded and how the World Cup players return following the tournament.
