They're not up there with the Meningas, Daleys, Belchers and Stuarts just yet, but there's excitement building in the nation's capital about a crop of youngsters making a telling impact on the NRL.

Meet the Green Machine Mark II - a batch headed by rising sensation Josh Dugan and featuring six of his teammates from the Raiders' side which took out the inaugural Toyota Cup crown in 2008.

Dugan, who won man of the match honours when the Raiders beat Brisbane 28-24 in that under 20s decider, has been in sizzling form this season - with many pundits predicting it won't be too long before he breaks into the representative ranks.

But Raiders officials see Dugan as just one of a number of key players to lead the club into a bright future, and it's a crop determined to return the club to the glory days of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"We all want to stay there - it's a pretty good club and we can see the club being one of the successful clubs in the future with all the young fellas all planning to stay there," said centre Joel Thompson.

Of the side selected to take on the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday - Dugan, Jarrod Croker, Daniel Vidot and Shaun Fensom beat Brisbane in 2008.

Backrower-come-centre Thompson would have been there only for a fractured eye-socket in the preliminary final victory, while winger James Stuart missed the entire 2008 campaign with compartment syndrome.

The Raiders have been working feverishly to keep the group together, with all but Carney signed on until the end of next season.

Croker, Waddell and Vidot are all locked away to the end of the 2012 season, and Fensom is signed through 2013.

It emerged recently that the Roosters reportedly expressed an interest in luring Dugan to Bondi in 2012, but Raiders chief executive Don Furner said the club was desperate to keep hold of the 19-year-old.

"He's a big part of our plans and we want to keep him and I believe he wants to stay and win a competition with the mates that he's come through with," Furner said.

"The start of last year we realised we did have a good batch of young kids and we extended a lot of their contracts out and realised our best shot at winning a grand final was to develop our own kids and keep them together.

"We've always been a development club and we always will be ... we just need to keep them all together and keep them happy."

Thompson, who will mark former teammate Phil Graham on Saturday, gave everyone a glimpse of his potential when he left Parramatta superstar Jarryd Hayne clutching thin air in a sensational 50 metre run to the tryline in Monday night's win over the Eels.

But Thompson says he is merely keeping a seat warm for when Joel Monaghan returns from a broken thumb as he eyes a return to the forwards.

"I see myself in the future as a backrower," Thompson said.

"I get lost a bit out there trying to figure out my role but hopefully in the coming weeks I'll get more used to it and get a bit more involved."

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