sport, raiders, canberra raiders, raiders, nrl, jarrod croker, nick cotric, pete mulholland, sia soliola

First Jack Wighton. Now Jarrod Croker. The Canberra Raiders are set to receive another massive boost on the eve of the NRL season. Croker could sign a two-year extension, with an option for a third, as early as Monday. It could take the Raiders co-captain into an astonishing 15th season with the Green Machine and make him the most-capped Raider of all time. He's already the club's all-time leading point scorer and try scorer, and he's also in the mix to be the NRL all-time leading point-scorer by the time he hangs up his kicking tee. But it might not be the last boost for Canberra before the 2020 season starts, with Nick Cotric also closing in on a three-year deal. The Raiders are working their way through their off-contract stars, with extending Sia Soliola's time in lime green also on their radar. Croker will go down as one of the Raiders greats, having already amassed 1996 points and 127 tries in his 257-game career. He almost led the Green Machine to a drought-breaking premiership last season, with the club a chance of going one better in 2020. Given how durable Croker has been so far in his 11-season career, by the time his new deal comes to an end he could have overtaken Jason Croker for games played. Jason Croker's currently the most-capped Raider, having finished his career after 318 games with the club. MORE CANBERRA SPORT Raiders recruitment guru Peter Mulholland, who was given NSW Rugby League life membership on Friday, said they were meeting with Croker's manager on Monday. "Jarrod Croker's all but done. That'll be a no-brainer. I think it'll be two [years] with an option our way," he said. "He's a club captain, he's a true Raider." The Raiders have already extended Wighton's contract until the end of 2024 and are close to re-signing Cotric for a similar length. Cotric's barely missed a game since making his debut in round one, 2017, having already racked up 70 appearances for Canberra. He's set to cap a bumper 2019 - where he made his State of Origin debut for the NSW Blues and his international debut for Australia - with a further three years with his home-town club. It's likely to be finalised in the coming weeks. The Raiders are also working on re-signing Soliola before the start of the season - which is just three weeks away when they take on the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on March 13. Young centre Matt Timoko is in line for a development contract after impressing at the NRL Nines. "Nick's a really important one for us, we want to really concentrate on that," Mulholland said. "Then we've got Sia. We've got a few boys that we've got to work on. "Then we've got youngsters that we've got to look at and retain, like Matty Timoko did well in the Nines. "Kai O'Donnell played well in the Nines, Jack Murchie played well in the Nines. "We've got to make sure we know what we're doing with those boys."

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