The Raiders are not usually a team that you see on free-to-air television, having been involved in live games on Nine just four times in the last two years – but with Thursday night football confirmed for the first four rounds, the Raiders plan to make a bid to have their Round 3 clash against the Dragons, a Thursday night game.

Despite all that, however, with the NRL committing to Thursday night games for the first rounds of 2013 – the Raiders are hopeful that their bid can be successful.

The Raiders are keen to play the Thursday night free-to-air game, as a way to increase their national exposure – with Raiders CEO Don Furner pushing hard to get it.

“We're looking at at round three on Thursday night, they haven't got that one filled yet,” said Furner.

“I re

ckon Thursday night might work because Monday night has, and especially early in the year when it's still warm.

“It breaks up the week, you've only got the Friday after it to get through work.

“We have to put our requests in. They've allocated the first two Thursday night games, so we might put in an allocation for that [round three].”

With the success of last year's opening game Thursday night clash between the Newcastle Knights and the St George Illawarra Dragons, the NRL was keen to test the success of the game further.

With AFL team Greater Western Sydney scheduled to play a game at Canberra's Manuka Oval on April 13, the Raiders have asked the NRL to make sure they are not given a home game on that same weekend.

“Hopefully we don't get a home game allocated for that weekend, we'll put that in our [draw] requests.”

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By ricky