Raiders coach Ricky Stuart believes their best start (5-1) since 2003 has come on the back of his players maturing and taking more accountability.

Dally M centre of the year Leilua has been sensational this season, with the 27-year-old scoring a double in Canberra's 26-22 win over Brisbane on Sunday.

The Samoa international is one of the most talented centres in the competition but his unpredictable temperament frustrated fans at times in 2018.

Croker believes he noticed a change Leilua's approach during the pre-season which is the reason behind him playing with more consistency - resulting in four tries in six games.

"BJ has been great, he's been really good, it's a credit to him and the way he trained and applied himself in the preseason," Croker said.

"We know how powerful and strong BJ is to our team and what he means to our team, just to see him do a lot of the little things ... shows how much BJ has worked.

"He's always got the ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat but the fact he's doing all those team-first efforts is a credit to how hard he worked and it's great to see.

"It's probably easier when you've won a few games to control that aggression and a lot of it was just frustration last season.

"You can't blame blokes for being frustrated the way we were losing games last year.

"We lost a lot of games by one or two points or golden point or blowing leads.

"It is more controlled this year but the way he's playing helps and the way he's applying himself as well."

Stuart has only lost one player to injury this season, Joe Tapine (ankle), and suggested he could rest some sore bodies for their clash against Manly on Sunday.

Australian Associated Press