By Sebastian Tan

Canberra have kept the door open for recruit Daine Laurie to play in the halves, as the Raiders wrap up their NRL pre-season. 

The Green Machine kept the plethora of their core players who claimed the league’s minor premiership last year, but the most notable name missing this season is Manly-bound halfback Jamal Fogarty.

Ethan Sanders is tipped to replace Fogarty, but the Raiders aren’t ruling out further changes to the halves pairing, which also includes star Ethan Strange.

Having played in the halves for Wests before shifting to the fullback position at Penrith, Laurie has emerged as a potential substitute for the pair.

With the NRL increasing the number of players on the bench from four to six, the five-eighth will have more of an opportunity to make an impact, Canberra assistant coach Brock Sheppard says.

“When he (Laurie) got here, he said he’s versatile … we’ve got Ethan Sanders, who’s going to assume that No.7 role to start the year,” Sheppard told reporters on Friday.

“He needs to be prepared to play in all those different positions … He’s more valuable now that the bench has (changed).

“We’ve thought about wild cards. Is there someone we can put on in the last half of the game or 20 minutes that can give us that spark?”

The Raiders have already got themselves into injury trouble as centre Matt Timoko wore a moon boot at their season launch on Wednesday.

But Sheppard played down the Kiwi’s injury, expecting him to be match fit when the Raiders kick off their season against Manly on March 7.

Canberra is instead focused on their final pre-season trial against Cronulla, which takes place in Gosford on Saturday.

Laurie will fill the fullback role despite Sanders and Strange not playing as coach Ricky Stuart protects the pair.

“We haven’t looked too much at Cronulla, but we know that we’re going to get a really good indication on where those six or eight boys we put in this week are going,” Sheppard said.

“They’re a team that’s made finals the last four years. So that’s a really good (challenge) for our group.”