Building trust will shake off Green Machine rust: Cotric

For Canberra winger Nick Cotric it’s a matter of trust.

One of the great unknowns about the Raiders in 2020 is just how they will adapt to the key team changes from last year’s grand final side – particularly the arrival of halfback George Williams and centre Curtis Scott.

And nobody has been more affected by that change than Cotric, who plays on the right wing outside both those two newcomers to the Green Machine following the departure of Aidan Sezer and Joey Leilua in the off-season.

While the entire summer pre-season was spent familiarising themselves with each other, learning how they play and developing their structures, nothing quite compares to actual game time to put simulation into action.

So far so good for the Raiders who have opened the year with wins over Gold Coast and New Zealand Warriors, with their defence leading the way even while their attack hasn’t been at its finest.

Both areas of their game remain a work in progress heading into Thursday's home clash with the Dragons but Cotric believes they’ve been able to start the season well because the players themselves are putting faith in each other to simply get the job done.

"It’s just trust, I just trust Scotty on my inside," Cotric said.

"What he does I just follow him pretty much. It’s my job to follow the centre in and he is making the right decisions and therefore that’s made me make the right decision too.

"And George Williams too, I’ve got to give him credit his defence in his first year out here is going great.

"We are working on that [right-side combination] in training as much as we can in attack.

"We were unlucky with some forward passes [against the Warriors] but we will address that in training and keep working on that and run our lines a bit better."

The Raiders were among the first teams in the Telstra Premiership to experience the new travel conditions for away games, flying in and out on a private aircraft on match day.

Despite everything that is happening around the world, Cotric said the Raiders have been able to focus on football and it’s showing on the field.

"We’re just trying to forget about what’s happening and enjoy our footy," he said.

"I think everyone is just excited to be out there playing. We know there’s a few battles going on in the world but everyone is just happy to be out there and doing what we love and that’s rugby league."