Ryan Sutton has seen the Viking clap on TV before. His new Canberra Raiders teammates have told him about it too.

But nothing compares to the moment he stood in the tunnel and heard 14,031 euphoric fans standing and clapping in unison at Canberra Stadium to welcome the Green Machine onto the park for another NRL campaign.

The Raiders have made the Viking clap a part of the game day experience. Credit:Rohan Thomson

The round two crowd is Canberra's second best return for the opening home game of the season since 2010, and it is perhaps made even more impressive considering the Raiders were lugged with the 6pm Friday timeslot.

The outlier was their 2017 home opener against Cronulla, when 15807 fans turned up still riding the highs of the preliminary final appearance just months earlier.