Josh Hodgson

The England international is set to sign a two-year deal and will provide leadership and experience to the club, having been a crucial figure in the Raiders set up over the past seven years.

The signing will mark a rare incoming for the Eels according to The Daily Telegraph, after a raft of key players signing elsewhere.

Hodgson plans to get in the ear of several off-contract teammates to try to convince them to stick around in the nation’s capital.

He signed a four-year extension with the club in November that will keep him in the lime green until the end of 2022.

But his fellow Canberra spine stars — Austin and Sezer — are yet to commit beyond 2018 and appear no certainty of staying put.

Towards the end of last season there were reports linking both players to rival clubs. Most recently the Daily Telegraph reported Canterbury is trying to lure Sezer to the kennel.

A year later, fellow England international Elliott Whitehead joined the Green Machine in similar circumstances with just under 200 games of Super League experience under his belt from his time at Bradford and Catalans.

Fast forward to the end of the 2016 season and both have become household names with Raiders and NRL fans alike. Hodgson finished eighth in the final 2016 Dally M Medal count while Whitehead was a key man in Canberra's run to the preliminary finals, featuring in all 27 games and scoring six tries.