Canberra Raiders English duo Elliott Whitehead and Ryan Sutton have agreed to contract extensions with the club, that will see them remain as Raiders until the end of the 2022 season.

Both Whitehead and Sutton were signed until the end of 2020, however the club has extended each of their current deals for a further two seasons each.

Elliott Whitehead has been one of the Raiders most consistent performers since arriving at the club for the beginning of the 2016 season, with the English International establishing himself as one of the leaders of the Raiders forward pack.

Whitehead said he didn’t even consider looking for another club and said he always wanted to continue his career with the Green Machine.

“I’ve absolutely loved my time at the Raiders so far, so to extend for another two seasons is fantastic and I know we’re on the right path to achieving success,” Whitehead said. “I’ve seen this squad grow into something special over the past few seasons and I really wanted to make sure I stayed in Canberra and be a part of what we’re building. I didn’t want to go anywhere else.

“It’s great news to get the deal sorted and my focus is now on having a really strong finals series for the Raiders and hopefully helping the club win a competition.”

Ryan Sutton arrived at the Raiders at the beginning of this season from Wigan in the English Super League and has already established himself as a potential long term NRL player.

Sutton said he was happy with the way his game was progressing so far and said he still had plenty of improvement in him.

“I set my sights on coming out to Australia and getting my foot in the door with the Raiders and I’ve been lucky enough to play more games than I expected in my first year,” Sutton said. “It’s my goal now to keep getting better and better each year of this contract and hopefully establishing myself as an NRL player for the rest of my career.”

“I really want to thank Ricky and the coaching staff for giving me the opportunity and I’m looking forward to becoming a better player in the future for the Raiders.”