Raiders coach Ricky Stuart had imposed the vow of silence on all but one player for this opposed training session, held at Queanbeyan's Seiffert Oval, the club's original and spiritual home.

The coach shadowed his young playmaker, at that stage yet to make his NRL debut, and kept in his ear. "Louder," the coach urged. "Louder". "LOUDER!".

"That was probably the scariest training session I've ever done," Cornish recalls of the initiation ritual early last year.

"I've done it a couple of times now and it's got easier every time I've done it. Now once you're with the team, it's like second nature.

"I had to talk and direct the whole team, without them talking at all. It was pretty daunting, but it gets you speaking up.

"Sticky's good at coming up with little drills that expose your weaknesses and what you need to work on. He's definitely smart that way.

"Sometimes you think you're yelling at blokes, but it's not loud enough or direct enough. It gives you a voice, because you've got to be a dominant figure on the field if you're going to be a halfback.

"I think the boys think I get a bit aggressive on the field now, like I'm a different person."

On the eve of his second NRL season, Cornish states his mission loud and clear: he wants to be the man calling the shots for the Raiders in 2015 - and beyond.

Cornish and returning Raiders half Sam Williams are in a two-man battle for the starting No. 7 role, to partner Canberra's five-eighth recruit from the Wests Tigers, Blake Austin.

Content with the way he was eased into the NRL last year, but off contract at the Raiders at the end of the season, Cornish says he's now ready and confident to take charge.

"That's the number one goal, to lock that number seven jersey down," Cornish says. "I've worked the hardest I ever have this pre-season on my game, hopefully in the trials I can go all right.

"If I want to start making a mark, this needs to be my best year yet. I want to be here for the next 7-10 years, that'd be the next goal. I'd like to spend my career here."

At 177 centimetres and 86 kilograms, Cornish is on the smallish side and still young. But the former Australian Junior Kangaroos skipper dismisses any suggestion he and Austin are too raw, too green, to click as an immediate halves combination for the Raiders.

Cornish played eight matches in his NRL rookie year last season, the final three as a starter. While Austin arrives in Canberra after a hot year with the Tigers, he's still only 23 and has just 34 games NRL experience, most as a utility.

Cornish won't hear of it, pointing to good mate and South's half Luke Keary. Keary, 22, has played only 22 NRL matches and is almost an identical build to Cornish, but helped guide Souths to their first premiership in 43 years. Tigers half Luke Brooks, 179 centimetres and 85 kilograms, is another example of the next generation of little generals emerging.

"I don't think experience matters if you gel well together and you've got a good forward pack," Cornish says. "Look at Luke Keary, one of the most inexperienced halves [in the NRL] and he took Souths to a grand final. Anything can happen.

"He's a good mate of mine, we made the under 20s team of the year together and have stayed in touch.

"People reckon we'll have the most inexperienced halves, but look at the Tigers with Mitchell Moses (aged 20, 10 NRL games) and Luke Brookes (aged 20, 22 NRL games), it looks like they're going to start the year. Brooks went straight in there and didn't look out of place."

"You play a a lot of footy against those blokes coming through the ranks and seeing them fill in there like it's nothing. Getting a taste of [NRL] last year was a massive confidence boost."

The Raiders and Cornish are yet to initiate contract talks beyond 2015. A lot will depend on how Cornish starts this season and whether he can command a permanent spot.

Cornish's younger brother, Tyler, also a halfback and Raiders junior, was poached by the Sydney Roosters and has re-signed with their NRL squad for next two years as an understudy to Mitchell Pearce.

Cornish was a Roosters fan as a kid too, mimicking Brad Fittler's left-foot step in the backyard.

But it was a former Raiders halfback, and Goulburn bad boy, Todd Carney, who converted him to Canberra.

"As a kid I followed the Roosters, I was a mad Brad Fittler fan. I switched when Todd Carney started playing for the Raiders. I thought how cool's that, a Goulburn boy playing for the Raiders.

"When I was 12 or 13 I used to go and do one-on-ones with Toddy at the local park. My stepfather was good mates with his family and ... every time Toddy was going for a kick he'd ask if I wanted to come down.

Then Jarrod [Croker] went to the Raiders too. We went to the same primary school. I thought I might have a crack at that, that's when I jumped on the Raiders."

Croker, the new Raiders captain, now lives within 500 metres of Cornish. So does one of his best mates at the Raiders, 21-year-old star Jack Wighton.

Cornish and Wighton became fathers late last year and their families now spend most weekends together, with a pizza, a DVD and letting their first-borns play on the floor together.

Fatherhood, Cornish says, has added importance to this season.

"You know you're not just doing it for yourself now, you've got that little one to support. There's more on the line, if you have a bad game, you can't just shrug it off," Cornish says.

"When I start to think about [coming off contract], I think 'I better pull my finger out'. But you have to put that to the back of your mind and put your footy first, if you're playing well it takes care of itself."

Cornish lost another of his best mates at the Raiders when Anthony Milford defected to the Brisbane Broncos at the end of last season. The pair started the last three games in the halves together in 2014, resulting in three consecutive wins.

For the past two seasons Milford had been Canberra's attacking x-factor. But Cornish expects Austin can fill that void.

"He probably replaces Milford, without putting too much pressure on him," Cornish says. "He's got that dynamic running style, he can create something out of nothing. he's technically smart with how he ball-plays.

"Blake was probably one of the Tigers' best players last year, he's got that x-factor about him."

So back to the big question, is Cornish ready to partner Austin in the halves?

Stuart, a champion halfback in his playing days for the Raiders, has given him the best foundation to prove it. Stuart ignored calls early last year to rush Cornish into the team. It was a measured approach, starting Cornish on the bench mid-season for five games, before starting him in the final three.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Stuart debuted for the Raiders at 21 too, back in 1988.

"I remember he was telling me about his debut, he said he came off the bench and that was pretty daunting, he had all the rep players he had to boss around. He knows what it's like, he's done wonders for my footy.

"Last year was a development year, he wanted to do the best by me.

"There was a lot less pressure coming off the bench, but starting towards the end of the year was easier for me. I could ease myself in the game instead of coming out all guns blazing and trying to fit a whole halves game into 20 minutes of football."

Hear that? Cornish says he's ready, now to prove it.