Jamal Idris looms large, but so does Gold Coast’s fortress of Skilled Park when Canberra take on the Titans in their second round NRL clash on Saturday.

Halfback  Josh McCrone admits history is against the Raiders, who’ve won none from four clashes at the Robina venue.

“We haven’t had a win up there so it’s a big opportunity,” he said on Wednesday.

“It’ll make a bit of history up there if we do.”

McCrone said humidity and travel loomed as two big obstacles while, on the field, Idris was living up to his million-dollar price-tag with a two-try performance in last week’s 18-0 drubbing over North Queensland.

Last year’s wooden-spooners aim to build on their strong start to 2012 against the Raiders and McCrone said keeping Idris’s impact to a minimum would be key to denying them the pleasure.

“He’s sort of their go-to (man) now and Greg Bird sniffs around there too so it’s going to be a big day for us,” he said.

“You’ve just got to throw the body out there and hope for the best.”

McCrone said veteran centre Shaun Berrigan had his work cut out for him in containing Idris, who has 16cm and a whopping 28kg on the former Bronco.

Raiders coach David Furner said Berrigan, 33, who is with the Raiders on a two-year contract, was a valuable asset to Canberra’s defensive line.

“I thought he warmed up to the task defensively,” Furner said of their 24-19 loss to Melbourne on the weekend.

“Berro on our edges made some really good decisions and they had to pull out some classy plays there to score tries against us.”

Furner will also be looking to his bench to curb the Titans’ influence, singling out forward Trevor Thurling, who will play his first NRL match for Canberra since an Achilles heel injury at the end of last season.

“(The Titans) are very quick out of dummy half through Lawton and Srama and those players will test us out.

“So someone like Trevor who’s got really good leg speed is going to be important for the team.”

AAP cj