Canberra Raiders are preparing for their opening round match against Penrith on Saturday with a new-look leadership ground that now includes Australian and Queensland bulldozer Josh Papalii.

Lock Shaun Fensom is part of the group and says individually everyone has stepped up in the off season.

“Over the previous seasons I’ve been trying to improve my leadership around the club and this year I’ve taken it to the next level,” Fensom said.

“We’ve got a good group of guys helping [Jarrod Croker] out with the captaincy in the Club 82 group.

“You forget how young [Papalii] and [Croker] are, and you have me and Sia who are bit older, so it’s a good mix of young and old.”