NRL 2025 fixture analysis: Canberra Raiders

The Canberra Raiders might have the easiest draw for 2025 according to the maths, but there are plenty of factors which make it anything but.

Here is everything you need to know on the fixture front for Ricky Stuart's side ahead of the 2025 season.

Teams to play twice
New Zealand Warriors (Round 1, 12), Manly Sea Eagles (Round 3, 23), Parramatta Eels (Round 6, 20), Gold Coast Titans (Round 7, 11), The Dolphins (Round 8, 27), Wests Tigers (Round 16, 26), Newcastle Knights (Round 17, 21), St George Illawarra Dragons (Round 18, 22)

On a sliding scale which ranks the premiers of last year as 17 points, and the wooden spooners as one point, the Raiders have the competition's easiest draw for 2025.

The only team they take on twice out of last year's top eight are the Sea Eagles, and while you could make the case that the Eels, Dolphins and Knights will all push for the eight this year - possibly among others - they certainly don't have a difficult draw.

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As we are about to find out though, that's where the ease of schedule finishes for Ricky Stuart's green machine.

Travel schedule
If you want to hear about a flying nightmare, look no further than the Raiders' travel schedule.

They move over 40,000 kilometres this year. That is blown out by their trip to Las Vegas, but given they then also play in Townsville, Darwin, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sydney by the end of Round 9, it's something of a disaster.

If they come out of that stretch with wins, they finish the year with only one trip further than Sydney in their last eight games, so finals will be a chance.

Turnaround times
The Raiders only have a single five-day turnaround which is solid news. The fact it comes during their horror stretch of travel early in the season though could chalk up an almost automatic loss.

Their Round 5 game against the Cronulla Sharks after flying back from Townsville is the one that will have Raiders fans less than impressed.

The club also have four six-day turnarounds, with a higher than the NRL average amount of seven-day or more turnarounds.

Start of the season
If you were to look at the raw nature of the teams the Raiders were playing over the first six weeks, it wouldn't be overly disappointing.

The Warriors, Broncos and Eels all missed last year's top eight, while Manly, the Cowboys and Sharks are the other sides on their early list.

But when their travel schedule is Las Vegas, Canberra, Manly, Townsville, Canberra, Darwin, you'd be stunned if they came out of it with a record hitting 50 per cent.

The Origin period
The Raiders are unlikely to have a great number of players selected for the Origin arena, with Hudson Young potentially the only one in the mix.

That leaves them looking to pick up wins during the Origin period, and they will clash with the likely similarly unimpacted Warriors before Game 1, and the Dragons before Game 3.

They have the bye before Game 2 and after Game 3, while they will play the Sydney Roosters and West Tigers in rounds immediately after Games 1 and 2 respectively.

The run home
If the Raiders are looking for an opportunity to play finals rugby league, their run home should provide it.

Byes in Round 19 and 24 will be cheap points on the way home, and their final six weeks will see games against the Knights, Dragons, Sea Eagles, Panthers, Wests Tigers and Dolphins.

Most of those games should - and will need to be if they want to qualify for the top eight - winnable.

Toughest stretch
The horror show of a travel schedule early in the season has already been touched on for the Raiders, but how about this?

Kicking off in Round 9 with Magic Round against the Melbourne Storm, they then play the Bulldogs (home), Titans (home), Warriors (away), Roosters (away) and Rabbitohs (home) over the following five rounds.

Some of those teams are beatable without a doubt, but with no turnarounds longer than seven days throughout the run, this won't be straightforward.

Easiest stretch
The run between Origin 2 and 3 will see the Raiders play the Tigers, Knights and Dragons. The first two of those games are away, but not via a long flight.

If the Raiders are going to play finals football, this is the type of stretch against potential bottom-four teams where they have to find a way to dominate.

Games to watch
Round 1, vs New Zealand Warriors at Allegiant Stadium, Sun, Mar 2, 11am
Round 5, vs Cronulla Sharks at GIO Stadium, Thu Apr 3, 8pm
Round 9, vs Melbourne Storm, at Suncorp Stadium, Sun, May 4, 6:25pm
Round 17, vs Newcastle Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium, Fri, Jun 27, 8pm
Round 25, vs Penrith Panthers at Glen Willow Regional Sports Complex, Mudgee, Fri, Aug 22, 6pm

The must-win games
Round 2, vs Brisbane Broncos, at GIO Stadium, Sat, Mar 15, 7:35pm
Round 7, vs Gold Coast Titans, at CBus Super Stadium, Sun, Apr 20, 2pm
Round 17, vs Newcastle Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium, Fri, Jun 27, 8pm
Round 20, vs Parramatta Eels at GIO Stadium, Sat Jul 19, 3pm
Round 26, vs Wests Tigers at GIO Stadium, Sat Aug 30, 3pm

Full fixtures