Costigan was named as 18th man yesterday, but is expected to come off the bench in a reshuffled Raiders line-up, with hooker Glenn Buttriss likely to be ruled out as early as today because of a knee injury.

Buttriss will be replaced at dummy-half by Ryan Hinchcliffe, with Canberra coach Neil Henry handing Costigan the vacant bench spot.

It will be Costigan's first NRL game since tearing his quad muscle in round one.

Costigan's return comes as a major boost for the Raiders, who are attempting to snap a seven game winning streak by the Dragons.

Dragons halfback Ben Hornby admitted containing Canberra's forwards would be the key to overpowering the Raiders.

"Their forwards are where they try and bash you up a bit," he said.

"They'll try and intimidate and put effort on you and you've got to respond to that.

"The last few weeks we've been able to compete with sides, our forward pack has been going well."

The 23-year-old second-rower, who played a starring role in the Maroons Origin series win over NSW last year, has been playing with Canberra's Queensland Cup feeder club Souths Logan since returning from injury three weeks ago.

The 100kg Raiders powerhouse suffered the quad injury during the pre-season, before suffering a relapse in the first round.

St George Illawarra-bound prop Michael Weyman will also come off the bench for the Raiders on Sunday.

Dragons prop Dan Hunt, who has been playing able cameos off the bench behind Justin Poore and Jason Ryles, said the front-row trio were prepared for a fierce battle.

"They're always physical, Canberra are always physical," he said.

"They've got good players like Weyman who are tough and it will be a good test against those guys.

"(But) Poorey and Ryles have been doing a fantastic job.

"I just try to come on and help up the middle, they set the platform.

"I'm just focused on doing my job and coming off the bench and making an impact."