Canberra forward David Shillington says new signing Matt Orford is the "icing on the cake" who will hopefully guide the club to the NRL premiership.

The Raiders announced on Monday that Orford has agreed to join the club from English Super League side Bradford.

Shillington told reporters having Orford will be a huge boost, particularly as five-eighth Terry Campese will miss the early part of the season recovering from knee surgery.

"Campo's going to leave a big hole in our team next year. So Matt Orford will fill in nicely and will be a good leader for the team," he said.

"It makes a big difference having a good halfback like him. He's got plenty of experience. He's won a premiership, got a good kicking game which will help us.

"As a front rower, when we're taking the ball up the field we want a halfback to finish off the sets for us and score some tries for us too.

"Hopefully we'll have the icing on the cake for us and we'll go one step further, but we'll just have to see when the games start how everything mixes together."

Shillington has resumed training with the Raiders after taking a break following Australia's campaign in last year's Four Nations tournament.

The Raiders prop said he hopes he can bring some of the higher intensity of the Kangaroos squad to training at the Raiders.

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