Raiders chief operating officer Jason Mathie was in Wagga on Monday with player Sam Williams to launch the start of ticket sales for their clash with Melbourne at Equex Centre on April 9. He said they hoped to settle on an extension before the match.

The round five game is the third and final fixture of the current agreement to play NRL games in Wagga, which began with Canberra's win over Penrith in 2019.

"Ideally it would be fantastic if we could settle on a recommitment by the time we get to the game here in early April," Mathie said.

"But we did start the discussion (with Wagga Council) pre-Christmas, and given the nature of the relationship and how well we work together, I think it's going to be something that's quite easy to put to bed.

"We've indicated to council we'd love to sit down and talk about a longer term deal. The discussions have been that basic at the minute, but we've asked them to come back to us in terms of what the match would look like with (date) placement and the opposition.

"Those discussions will no doubt intensify in the next couple of months."

The Raiders' current deal with the ACT government allows for a couple of home games to be played outside of Canberra every few years, otherwise a financial penalty is incurred.

The club paid a fine to bring the first game to Wagga in 2019.

"We have to consider what Wagga want to get out of it, and us as a club," Mathie said.

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"It's got ramifications for our football department and some of our commercial stakeholders, particularly in terms of our home match allocation.

"But I don't think it's insurmountable because it's been really well received not just by our players and coaches, but our corporate sponsors as well.

"For 40 years we've spruiked about being the NRL's true country club, because of where we draw our talent from. To uphold that statement, our desire is to definitely provide for a grassroots area like Wagga."

The installation of more seating and an enhancement of the hill at Equex Centre means capacity will grow to around 11,500 for the Raiders-Storm clash.

A capacity crowd of just over 10,000 watched the Raiders defeat Penrith in 2019, but COVID restrictions limited the crowd to 6642 when Newcastle came to Wagga last year.

The fixture won't be played on the same weekend as the Wagga Gold Cup racing carnival for the first time.

Kickoff is 3pm with the Fusion22 multicultural festival to take place in Wagga that evening. The Academy Games will also be in Wagga that weekend.

"We've had a really great working relationship with them Raiders) over the last several years and we want to continue to do that," Wagga mayor Dallas Tout said.

"I don't see any reason why we can't continue on, have some honest discussions on what's worked and what we can tweak.

"I'm not sure of a (eventual capacity figure for the ground), but my visualisation would be grandstands everywhere.

"Whether that's 15 or 20 (thousand) I don't know, we'll max it out to whatever we can to make sure it's safe and make sure we can have as many events here (as we can)."

Raiders stalwart Williams, who hails from Cooma, said it's important more games continue to be taken to country areas.

He believes the signs are strong Canberra can rebound from a disappointing 2021 campaign, when they missed the finals.

"Myself and a number of us Canberra players from the country understand what it means, the more games you have in the country the better," he said.

"We had some team changes in the middle of the season, then moved away and lost our home ground advantage like a lot of clubs did.

"It's a season we'd probably like to forget, but there's enough positive signs there within the squad to say we can be successful."

Tickets went on sale for Raiders and Storm members on Monday, with general public tickets available from 10am Tuesday through Ticketek.

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