George Williams adapting style to take Raiders one better

New Canberra halfback George Williams is ready to do whatever it takes to help Canberra go one better in 2020, which means adapting on the run.

He is aware the expansive style he honed over an impressive seven-year Super League career at Wigan will have to be modified for the far more structured NRL gameplay.

Williams had his only pre-season hit-out for his new club in a 12-10 trial win over Canterbury in Port Macquarie on Saturday. He produced a few dangerous runs and some potentially even more potent passes but not much was coming off.

A short ball was spilled by new right-side forward Corey Horsburgh while two long cut-out balls could easily have led to tries - one was knocked down by the Dogs (leading to a fresh Raiders set) while another led to right winger Nick Cotric being bundled into touch.

There were plenty of good signs considering it was an entirely new right edge and Williams was confident the improvement would be rapid.

"I was a bit rusty and we started pretty slow and went 10 behind but we still took something out of that," Williams told NRL.com.

"We got better as the game went on and found our groove. It's probably going to take time. On that right edge for me, I've not played with any of those other boys before so it will just take time.

"It's frustrating because you do want it to work instantly. We've got two more weeks before round one, we've had 50-60 minutes together, we'll only build on that."

Williams will arguably feel more comfortable when England teammate John Bateman returns to the right edge but he was happy to build the combination with Horsburgh.

"Big Red is a great player and very skilful so he'll be great for us on that edge. Just building the combinations, they find out how I play, I find out what they're like," he said.

"It takes time no matter who you are, it could be the best players in the world it will still take time."

The Raiders kept things fairly simple in the trial, with five-eighth Jack WIghton sticking to the left edge, Williams on the right and hooker Josh Hodgson appearing to call most of the shots.

"Myself and Jacky both like to turn up on either side and we didn't manage to do it but I'm sure you'll see that at some stage," he said. "We started simple to see where we're at.

"Super League is a bit more expansive while NRL's more structured, kick long, chase hard, defend well but I think that will help my game.

"I can kick long and I like to defend. The pressure is on but I put pressure on myself to do well so I'm nothing but excited really.

"I back myself to be able to [play structure]. In the big moments I might want to chance my arm a little bit."

Williams had no doubt he had the support of coach Ricky Stuart to back himself and play his natural game when he felt the time was right.

"If it works he's going to back me in but it's a fine line of playing what you see and playing to the structure," he added.

Despite the No.7 usually being the on-field general, Williams said he was happy for Hodgson and Wighton to continue being the main voices on field for now.

"I didn't want to come in week one screaming and shouting, I want to earn the respect from the boys and then I think I'll become more vocal and natural."