Eighth versus ninth, six rounds to go, both sides without their star - rarely have the Gold Coast and Canberra been under such pressure to win.

The Raiders head into Saturday's round 20 NRL match slight favourites because of their strong home record but have been rattled this week by an off-field incident involving star half Todd Carney and fringe first-grader Bronx Goodwin.

A complaint that Carney urinated on a patron at a Canberra pub was withdrawn while Goodwin will face two charges of assault following the pair's late-night drinking session last Sunday.

Both players remain indefinitely suspended pending a club investigation.

The Titans are still without their Origin halfback Scott Prince and stalwart forward Mark Minichiello, who are both on the injury list.

Desperate to return the focus to football, the Raiders blocked a question to young winger Justin Carney, who was asked if he had struggled to focus this week amidst the media storm.

Coach Neil Henry was more forthcoming.

"We talked about the matters off the field early in the week, put that to bed and we got on with our training."

Todd Carney will be replaced by local junior and debutant Marc Herbert.

"He (Herbert) has been running the show up there with Souths-Logan and he has had an injury-interrupted preparation this year with the hamstring injuries but over the last five or six weeks he's been able to play solid footy," Henry said.

The club is a strong believer in Herbert and he is signed until the end of 2010.

Gold Coast flew into Canberra after a training run at home and will not train again ahead of the 5.30pm (AEST) kick off.

Prop Michael Henderson admitted the road trip would be difficult.

"They're a 20-point better side at home," Henderson told AAP.

"It's only a couple of times a year that you have to play in the cold so we just have to deal with that."

The forecast is for a fine day with a top of 12 degrees.

Henderson had plenty of praise for the largely unknown Raiders pack.

"They're a very good forward pack, they're very big and physical," he said.

The bustling prop admitted the focus on Canberra this week had helped the Titans fly low ahead of the match.

"That's probably a good thing, we just needed to look at our own game," he said.

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