The NRL season begins next week so we convened a panel of experts to answer the BIG questions about the Canberra Raiders in 2015. Here's what Wendell Sailor, Darryl Brohman, Gary Belcher, Alan Tongue and Ben Ikin had to say to Fairfax Media's rugby league reporter, Jon Tuxworth.

Q: Who's the Raiders player to watch this year?

Wendell Sailor: Jack Wighton. I worked with him at the All Stars last week and he's got the total package. What he's got to do is believe how good he can be. I think sometimes he gets too down on himself, he can be a real leader. As soon as he makes a mistake he puts his head down and gets real dirty on himself. I just said to him you've got to move on, all good players make mistakes. If he keeps his head up everyone knows how good he can be.

Darryl Brohman: I'd like to think Jarrod Croker will have another big season, being a young captain. He's obviously made an impression on Ricky Stuart and he's not far away from higher honours. Centre's a very important position in any side.

Gary Belcher: I hope it's Blake Austin. I don't want to put any pressure on him but I was impressed with what he did at the Tigers last year. He stood out and made some really good decisions at crucial times. I hope he's a good buy and has a big effect. I'm sure playing one position was part of his desire to move, hopefully he nails five-eighth and stays there.

Alan Tongue: Jack Wighton's last three games he played at fullback showed he has plenty of potential there. He can definitely bring a lot to a side with more football and open space. They'll need to get plenty out of him, but there's other guys who need to contribute to bring that X-factor that Anthony Milford did. He's more out of a Greg Inglis mould, he's big and has a great fend. It's going to take some time but we got a glimpse of it last year.

Q: Can new captain Jarrod Croker fill the leadership void left by departed skipper Terry Campese?

WS: No doubt. Croker has been one of their most consistent players over the last couple of years. In the All Stars he played some really good football. With that leadership role, I think he'll only get better. It's time for him to stand up now, I like the way he plays and the way he presents himself. That's what the Raiders need, they need someone to step up. Nothing seems to worry him too much. There's no doubt he can play Origin if he keeps playing consistent football.

GB: He'll grow into it and he's got some great senior players around him like Dave Shillington and Dane Tilse, Shaun Fensom would have come into the captaincy reckoning too. He's got some help around him.

AT: He definitely can. I've always thought really highly of Toots. As a young captain it'll take time and he'll be more comfortable as time goes on. All the players love him as a bloke and how committed he is. Ricky has recruited a few more senior players across the board and that will help his cause. I was 26 when I got the captaincy but I didn't have as much leadership around me as he will have. He's a wonderful footballer and he won't change too much.

Ben Ikin: Some of the captains I've played with are quiet achievers. Alf [Allan Langer] talked more off the field than he did on it and led by his actions. Darren Lockyer, bloody hell, he nods on the phone. If Jarrod Croker continues to improve and play the way he has done the last few years, he's taken a huge step to being a great captain.

Q: Where will the Raiders finish on the ladder?

DB: They should be aiming to make the eight. It's a fairly even competition and there won't be a great deal between first and last, but if they make the eight I think they've had a good season. I'd say maybe about 12th.

GB: They're a bit behind the top teams like the Rabbitohs, Roosters, Bulldogs and Cowboys, but sitting behind that top four would be very nice. I think bottom eight would be a realistic goal.

AT: Potentially they should be aiming around the top-eight position. They'll get confidence how they finished last year and bringing some new guys to the club. They need to get out of the blocks hard and not chase their tail again at the back half of the year. The key is for them to stay fit and healthy.

BI: They are still a developing team, there's some great young players in there coupled with some solid first graders. They don't have the marquee players, a stretch goal for the Raiders would be to make the top eight. If they get to the finals they have gone over and above.

Q: Can Canberra's young halves compete with the best teams?

WS: I like Blake Austin because wherever you play him he rips in. He backed himself to come here and get a spot in the halves. Even Mitch Cornish, I've seen him play in the Under-20s and he's a very talented player. If your forwards don't lay that platform, as we've seen at the Dragons even with Benji Marshall and Gareth Widdop, you can't play off the back foot.

DB: Ricky seems to have great confidence in Mitch Cornish and he's been on the periphery for 12 months or so. Blake Austin showed what he can do last year at the Tigers, I think he's a pretty handy player and a nice buy for them in a critical spot. The problem's going to be they're both pretty young and inexperienced, we'll see how they go when the pressure's on. It'll be pretty similar to what the Tigers throw up with young Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses.

GB: Under the tutelage of Ricky, a former great halfback himself, they can. Austin runs a lot and Cornish is an organiser, hopefully that will work nicely. That's what everyone wants, you want one player to do the directing role so the other can play what's in front of him. That's going to be a work in progress for a long time and if it doesn't work straight away, I hope everyone doesn't jump up and down and judge them on a few performances.

AT: When you look across the board the more experienced halves often seem to do better over the season. But we've seen in the past, at Manly when Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran came together, they were only young. It's going to be a work in progress and I think Ricky's made that clear to everybody. They've got a lot of key combinations which have to come together. As many miles you do in the pre-season, there's nothing like playing games of footy. Austin is a great ball runner and will bring another dynamic, it's got the potential to be there. Austin kicks right foot and Mitch Cornish left, there's some good signs there.

BI: It's going to be a development year. It's hard being young halves, let alone when you've got two who haven't played with each other before. Blake Austin had a big season last year for the Tigers and I'm a fan, I love a running five-eighth.

Q: What do you expect from coach Ricky Stuart's second year in charge?

WS: He's pretty competitive and he'd expect nothing less than the top eight. He's got some of the players he wanted in Sisa Waqa and a couple of young guys coming through. The players need to step up now, Campo has moved on and there's been a changing of the guard. I'm a massive fan of Edrick Lee and the way he plays, and Jordan Rapana looks like a good player, too. There's plenty of options.

GB: Certainly improving on last year. First and foremost he'll be looking for consistently good performances. That doesn't always equate to wins but if you keep throwing in some terrible efforts - and we've seen some of those over the years - that's the thing Ricky will be looking to get out of the club. If they're consistent and play well, they'll win more than they lose. Those big losses can really set you back confidence-wise.

AT: I think everybody expects improvement. It's hard to come in your first year, any changes implemented take a bit of time.

Q: What's the biggest challenge the Raiders face this season?

WS: Winning at home. When I came to Canberra I knew I'd be in for a hard slog but the last couple of years, they gave up wins with ease. The Warriors beat them for the first time in ages and the Dragons broke their hoodoo, they need to get that mentality at home. They got beat easily at times which I've never seen before. They need to get that Coliseum back. You just knew coming to Canberra you'd be hard pressed to get the two points, but the last 15-18 months it hasn't been that way.

DB: They had a poor season last year and they have to improve to keep the fans onside, that's fairly obvious. It's an area that needs a rugby league team, there's a union team here and a fair AFL influence.

AT: It's definitely around those combinations. The spine is different, losing a couple of big players up front and new edge backrowers. Right across the park there's changes in most positions. We keep talking about the 9-6-7-1, but the combinations defensively, it's all about timing. If they keep chopping and changing it's hard to find rhythm. Combinations right across the park is going to be one of their biggest hurdles.

BI: Public expectation. Ricky's such a high-profile coach he's an easy story. He's had so much success as a player and as a coach early in his career. If the Raiders stumble at any point along the way, those stories will come through again. How he manages them and protects the team from that commentary is key.

Q: How do the Raiders win back fans?

WS: You've got to win games and I know they have a lot of community engagement. I think it's pride in that jersey, when you don't have that it's when the fans lose a bit of faith and trust in you. The Warriors put 50 points on them at home, that just doesn't happen.

GB: I don't think the fans expect them to be minor premiers this year, but they expect them to put in every week and be out there having a red-hot go. When you get rid of those really poor performances, the fans  go away thinking 'Maybe we didn't win, but we've got something to work with here'.

AT: Fans want to be proud of their side and effort they put in. Last year there was a couple of games they would have been really disappointed with, other than that they ripped in and worked hard for each other. They probably just lacked execution and a bit of class. Every team wants to create a home fortress and that diminished for the Raiders, I know Ricky and the side will want to get that back.

BI: To keep the fans involved you've got to clearly articulate where you want to improve, and explain the improvements the team is making. Sometimes if you keep them in the dark all they see is maybe the Raiders have missed another finals series. With a bit more information they might understand we were 15th last year, we want to improve with our recruitment for this year. If they see that happening, then belief starts to build.

Q: How will Jack Wighton go at fullback?

WS: He'll handle it quite well. I've seen him play centre, five-eighth, wing, even in the backrow. In the All Stars Johnathan Thurston did a cross kick which was going out, Wighton jumped, pulled it in with one hand. That's the sort of thing he can do.

DB: He's a very talented player. It's such an important position, outside of halfback and hooker it's probably the next most crucial position on the field. He'll be doing a lot of running but he's a quality player, he'll handle that. Not only is he an athlete he's a footballer.

GB: He's a running player and a wonderful defender. I can't see any reason why he won't go well back there. It'll be about his positional play and understanding where your team needs you at different times. The good fullbacks like Billy Slater are basically back-up halfbacks. I don't expect Jack will be doing that just yet, but hopefully he gets to that stage down the track.

AT: It'll be the increased involvement. Billy Slater sets the standard with that, the amount of talk and organising, when to inject yourself in attack and being that pair of eyes for your halves and hooker. The timing and positional play will be something he has to keep working on, but getting used to being involved in every aspect of the game, that's what fullbacks do now.

BI: The big thing with fullback is there's a lot of running and you need a big motor. My tip has always been don't expect to always be brilliant, just be busy. Wighton has been given a gift, he has great natural talent and the last thing he needs is to put pressure on himself to be a match-winner. The great success of Billy Slater is he puts himself in the game. The more you do that, the more good things you'll do.

Q: The Raiders have been looking for a long-term hooker. Is English recruit Josh Hodgson the answer or can Glen Buttriss carry on?

WS: I haven't seen a lot of Hodgson. It's hard because [former captain Simon Woolford] was such a consistent player and lived up to his nickname Germ. It's hard to replace that, but if he can do a job for them, it will help. However you also need a good back-up. With a new spine, the more they play the better they'll get. But if they lose games and changes are needed, they could lose confidence.

AT: It's always healthy having that competition. Glen Buttriss probably had his best season I thought for the Raiders. It's a key position they need to get down and you don't want to chop and change it too much. It's quite hard to build the combinations around it.

BI: To be successful in the modern game you need a pretty sharp dummy-half. A lot of the momentum you get is around the ruck, that's why Melbourne has been so good with Cameron Smith's subtle genius to pick teams apart around the middle. Josh McCrone is still learning the trade, I saw a lot of Kurt Baptiste in the Broncos system and he's fast and creative.

Q: What will the recruits add to the team, on and off it?

WS: Sia Soliola's been over in the Super League, by coming back he'll want to prove he's still got it. I think he'll be really good. I'm a big fan of Frank-Paul Nu'uausala, he's aggressive and tough. No one fears the Raiders like they used to, they had guys like Tom Learoyd-Lahrs and Josh Miller all these guys. But with those couple of guys, other teams will be looking and not want to run at them.

DB: Soliola's a very good and experienced player. Most people would say they haven't really recruited any big names and that's true. It's not all about that, you need to get good clubmen who are prepared to put their bodies on the line week-in week-out. You've got to have depth all over the place, the more recruits of first-grade quality the better. Hopefully they'll have a good year, but I'm still yet to be convinced.

BI: I'm a big Frank-Paul fan, he's just another big body who knows how to play tough, to run a line and put a shot on. Sia Soliola is in the same bracket, he absolutely destroys blokes.