Both Austin and Sezer had injury interrupted 2016s, which limited the time they were able to work together both on and off the park.

The departed Sam Williams, Elliott Whitehead and Lachlan Croker all spent time in the halves for Canberra last year.

Austin struggled with shoulder, hand and hamstring problems which made last season a "long and stressful" one for the 26-year-old.

The injuries meant he wasn't able to get as fit as he wanted, which he felt hampered his game as a running five-eighth.

But Austin and Sezer enjoyed a full pre-season together heading into the upcoming campaign and Austin felt it would not only benefit their partnership, but the team as well.

It doesn't bode well for opposition defences, given the Raiders were the most potent attack in the NRL last year.

"It gives me and Aidan a stronger voice in the group and that's only going to help everyone," Austin said.

"With the lack of time we spent on the paddock last season a lot of guys were filling in and I guess they were hearing less instructions from us.

"We've been able to stamp our mark on the team and we're going to be able to control things and really chime in.

"I think we definitely can [be better]. We've got a team that we don't need to have our hands on the ball as much as some of the other halves in the competition, but we want to have more of a mark on this team.

"We really want to own the team, so that's something we've worked really hard on and our forward and backs have responded really well to that over the pre-season."

The Raiders' big 2016, where they fell just three points short of the grand final, has led to added expectation as one of the favourites for the premiership this season.

But Austin didn't think those great expectations would hang heavy on the young squad.

He felt the group largely didn't pay much attention to the media, which meant the hype would largely go unnoticed.

"We don't have many footy buffs in our team. We've got guys that have got other interests, they just come in and get their work done and then head out," Austin said.

"With the expectation it's not something we can control, it's only there because we had a pretty successful year last year and we've just been about finding small improvements to take our footy to the next level.

"It's not something we spoke about, not a lot of the boys read into it so we're going to be heading out there and try and stick to the things that worked last year and add a few things in, hopefully playing some good footy."

He felt there were a couple of ways to look at their tough start to the season, where the Raiders play the 2015 premiers North Queensland in Townsville in round one and then follow that up with last season's premiers Cronulla in round two.

They also travel to Brisbane to take on another title contender in the Broncos in round four.

Austin felt it might be an advantage to face of their rivals early in the season.

"It's no tougher than going to Townsville in the summer. In saying that you'd probably rather knock a few of the better teams over early before they really hit their straps," he said.

"You can look at it either way, but whatever way it's going to be a really tough match. So we have to be ready and we know what's waiting for us in Townsville."