2022 Dally M team of the year member Joseph Tapine, who quickly became the best prop in the NRL during an enormous second half of the season, believes Emre Guler will be the club's breakout star this year.

Tapine, always a threat, took his game to the next level in 2022 as he formed a damaging middle-third combination with Josh Papalii during the second half of the season.

The green machine went on a run to the finals, ultimately knocking over the Melbourne Storm in an upset away from home after finishing eighth, before falling to the Parramatta Eels the following week to have their season ended at the semi-final stage.

But given Jamal Fogarty missed the first half of the season, and the club made noticeable improvements to a number of areas of their game during the second half of the season, confidence is high in the nation's capital that they can go to another level this season.

Still, the key departures of Adam Elliott (Newcastle Knights) and Ryan Sutton (Canterbury Bulldogs) leaves the Raiders plenty of work to do in 2023, and Tapine told the media that he believes Emre Guler will be the man to stand up, although also noted that Trey Mooney and Ata Mariota are having strong pre-seasons.

"You see a lot of young fellas coming in - Trey's been training really well, Ata, all the young fellas are going well," Tapine said.

"Emre's been training the house down.

"Coming back late and seeing what he's doing in the gym and on the field and the wrestle mat - I reckon he's in for a big season so I'm looking forward to seeing what he does."

While Guler has 57 games of NRL experience under his belt, he is yet to take the competition by storm despite his size and natural ability.

Mooney and Mariota are both rated among the best young forwards in the game, with Mooney formerly in the Eels' system and a natural lock forward, while Mariota made his NRL debut last year and at his best, is damaging.

All three could be in contention for a spot in Ricky Stuart's Round 1 team, with the Raiders to face the Cowboys on the road on Saturday, March 4, to kick-off their season, before playing the Dolphins on their way home in Round 2, with their first game in Canberra to come against the Cronulla Sharks.