Croker is the youngest captain in Raiders history and could potentially be the youngest leader in the NRL, with several clubs yet to appoint a skipper for 2015.

But Raiders coach Ricky Stuart confirmed Croker, 24, would have a big say in which players were selected for the club's revamped leadership group, last year dubbed Club 82 in honour of Canberra's founding 1982 season.

The Raiders are searching for new leaders, given former captain Terry Campese has left for the UK Super League and vice-captain Brett White has retired.

While some leadership groups are chosen by a vote of players, Stuart said Canberra's would be selected in consultation between himself, his coaching staff and Croker.

"Leadership's not about a popularity vote, it's about making the correct decisions for the group and the club," Stuart said.

"Jarrod's a young guy who's going to need some assistance. But there's plans afoot in regards to what we're doing there [for a leadership group], there's certainly enough senior people around to help him set his own style of leadership and help him with the responsibilities that come with captaincy.

"I'm not going to put a timeframe on when it's appointed because we want to make sure we get it right. We're going through a whole new stage, we're going to have a new-look footy team."

The Raiders have had a big rotation of players in the off-season, with recruits Sia Soliola, Frank-Paul Nu'uausala, Blake Austin, Josh Hodgson, Sisa Waqa and Sam Williams all challenging for starting roles.

A new leadership group is set to be appointed before the Auckland Nines, which begin on January 31, but Croker is unlikely to be in Canberra's squad for that tournament.

Croker captained the Raiders for the first time at the inaugural Auckland Nines last year but has been touted as Canberra's potential representative in the revived All Stars match on February 13.

The Raiders returned to training on Wednesday after their Christmas break and Croker said he was still stunned by how much had changed in 12 months.

Croker finished 2014 as the stand-in skipper but the club is organising leadership mentoring as he moves into the role full-time. Croker, who has already played 140 NRL games and is contracted until the end of 2018, said he'd briefly spoken to Mal Meninga and would be arranging to meet the Raiders legend in the lead-up to the season to discuss the keys to captaincy and leadership.

"I was pretty stoked at the time [last year] just to be named captain of the Nines, it's exciting and I didn't expect [the captaincy] a year down the track, but I'm still thrilled," Croker said.

"On the field I don't think you'll see much different out of me, I've always been someone who likes to talk up a bit and lead by example."

The Raiders are looking to rotate through a squad of 40 players during four weekends of pre-season, culminating with their strongest team for the February 21 trial against the Newcastle Knights at Queanbeyan's Seiffert Oval.

The Raiders are optimistic representative prop David Shillington could return from a long-term chest injury to be fit for the final trial and then season-opener against the Cronulla Sharks on March 8. Lock Shaun Fensom is also progressing well and is expected to return from a knee reconstruction within the first month of the NRL season.